Welcome, Volume-43 Number-04, 2009

 

This issue coincides with the annual festival of Janmastami, celebrating the divine appearance of Lord Krishna on earth more than fifty centuries ago. In “Sri Krishna Janmastami: The Advent of the Deliverer,” Karuna Dharini Devi Dasi explains how Lord Krishna’s “birth” is unlike that of us ordinary living beings, who are born by the force of Krishna’s material energy.

In February, Lord Krishna made another appearance, this time in His deity form in the new Hare Krishna temple in Aravade. Tattvavit Dasa writes about the significance of this new temple in a rural area of Maharashtra. Tens of thousands of villagers attended the opening ceremonies in an atmosphere saturated with the sound of the Lord’s holy names.

Chanting Hare Krishna always plays a prominent role at temple openings, as it does during any Hare Krishna function, because it forms the core of devotees’ spiritual practice. In “Kirtana-Yoga and the Maha-mantra,” Satyaraja Dasa writes about the history, practice, and results of chanting the holy names.

The goal of chanting is awakening our natural love for Krishna, and in “Exploring Love,” Visakha Devi Dasi tells why loving Krishna is the solution to our struggles to love and to be loved.

Our Purposes 

 

• To help all people discern reality from illusion, spirit from matter, the eternal from the temporary.

• To expose the faults of materialism.
• To offer guidance in the Vedic techniques of spiritual life.
• To preserve and spread the Vedic culture.
• To celebrate the chanting of the holy names of God as taught by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
• To help every living being remember and serve Sri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead.