Report: 2007 Krishna Culture Festival Tour

2007 was another eventful year at ISKCON Youth Ministry. We were able to participate in 28 festivals, chanting, dancing, and feasting, assisting you in spreading the holy name. Seven of those festivals were Ratha-yatras (Festival of Chariots), twenty-one were festivals which the youth conceived, and with your mercy, manifested.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, they that mourn, the meek...

I'm fascinated by my recent discovery of Lord Jesus' teachings to his disciples in his "Sermon on the Mount", Matthew 5. Why? Because having grown up in Krishna consciousness I've never really ventured outside of my bubble of safety, trying to figure out the teachings of other religions, including Christianity.

And as I read the "Sermon on the Mount" I couldn't help but think of the similarities in our Krishna conscious teachings, which got me thinking that Lord Jesus Christ was preaching Krishna consciousness, according to time, place and circumstance.

What would Jesus say today?

I'm a longtime subscriber to National Geographic magazine, as well as NG Adventure. Recently, the stories in these magazines have focused increasingly on the way in which we humans are destroying the Earth and its creatures around us. Shortly after reading the latest copy of NGM, I picked up a treasured book off my bookshelf, one I hadn't read in a while, and opened it at random to "Matthew 5", or chapter 5, Jesus' sermon on the mount. To tell you the truth, I had never read that sermon before, as an adult.

The Best Ukraine Festival Yet (part 2)

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 3, No. 37b
By Krishna-kripa das

The Spiritual Quest - What compels people to spend their lives chanting the names of God?

By Satyaraja Dasa (Steven J. Rosen). (I've re-posted this here with his permission.)

Ever wonder why people become Hare Krishnas? Why do they give up all that they know and love and engage in a complete about-face? And it’s not just the Hare Krishna tradition, more technically known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism -- why do people become monks, or nuns, or cloistered ascetics of any stripe? What is it that seems to take people over, to make them change, or transform -- to search after God as if nothing else matters?

The Best Ukraine Festival Yet (part 1)

(I'm posting this on behalf of Krishna Kripa Prabhu, who is traveling in eastern Europe and has limited web access.)

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 3, No. 37a
By Krishna-kripa das
(9/10/07 - 9/13/07)