Author: Bhakti Vikasa Swami

  1. Equal rights for women

    Srila Prabhupada: So-called equal rights for women means that the men cheat the women. Suppose a woman and a man meet, they become lovers, they have sex, the woman becomes pregnant, and the man goes away. The woman has to take charge of the child and beg alms from the government, or else she kills the child by having an abortion. This is the woman's independence. In
  2. Christopher Columbus and self-realization

    (Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas was on October 12, 1492) Hrdayananda: How many different ways are there for self-realization? Prabhupada: Only one path. God is one, and to realize Him, the path is one. There cannot be two paths. Just like suppose in India. So India is from here to the eastern side? Yes. This is an example. But you cannot find in the
  3. Our laugh is best

    I asked Prabhupada, "What does this verse mean?" The verse was, Ya nisa sarva-bhutanam, what is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage" (Bhagavad-gita 2.69). Prabhupada started smiling and said, "Yes. This means that when we see the karmis, we laugh. And when
  4. To farm devotees: stay, create Vrndavana

    The glaring attraction of city, that is maya. In the modern age people are more attracted by the city life, but we should know city life... Not for the devotee; generally, people in general, they like city life, but that is maya. Maya means "which is not fact." We are thinking that this way we shall be happy, but that is not fact. This is called maya. Ma-ya — "it is
  5. Performing Devotional Service in Karttika (1)

    One of the most important of these ceremonial functions is called Urja-vrata. Urja-vrata is observed in the month of Karttika (October-November); especially in Vrndavana, there is a specific program for temple worship of the Lord in His Damodara form. "Damodara" refers to Krsna's being bound with rope by His mother, Yasoda. It is said that just as Lord Damodara is
  6. Illicit sex leads to other sins

    As soon as there will be contamination of illicit sex life, he will be bereft of all good character, this basic principle. And the whole world is now encouraged in that way. So how we can expect good character from the modern man? If you indulge in illicit sex life and naturally other things, intoxication, gambling, then there will be no limit of expenditure. And to
  7. HH Jayadvaita Swami’s VP offering 2003, about early publications

    Lately I have been doing some research about the days in America when Srila Prabhupada had begun his preaching and was now trying to publish his books. It was 1966, and some young men had come to him and begun to take to Krsna consciousness. They had only the barest ideas of the philosophy. But the Swami was wonderful, prasadam was great, and chanting got you higher
  8. Maya’s atom bomb

    None of the scientific knowledge of the human being has solved the death problem. The advancement of material knowledge can simply accelerate the problem of dying; nobody can save a person from the cruel hands of death. The discovery of the atom bomb and similar other great inventions of the fertile brain of the scientist has simply increased the death problem. The
  9. If you do not understand, read again and again

    In my books the philosophy of Krsna consciousness is explained fully so if there is anything which you do not understand, then you simply have to read again and again. By reading daily the knowledge will be revealed to you and by this process your spiritual life will develop. Krsna consciousness is not a hackneyed thing but it is something which is our natural and