Christian Reflections on Killing and Eating (or Not)

Our dear friend Barry, who went to seminary with Clifton, sometimes prayed like this before church function meals. “We give you thanks O Lord for that which died that we might eat….” Praying like this would raise some eyebrows. We Americans eat a lot of meat. Our dear friend Barry, who went to seminary with […]

Love is not Love

 Perhaps one of the most poignant sufferings in society is the failure of human relationships. Recent government statistics reveal that some fifty percent of marriages are ending in divorce. Every day four thousand children call the charity Childline for help. All around us we can all see so many examples of strained and collapsed relationships, […]

Progressive Regression

 By Krishna Dharma.There are almost 2.5 million people unemployed in the UK. Those at least are the official figures. Over 7% of the workforce. It’s become a job in itself just looking for a job. Even the most qualified find it hard with one in ten graduates still failing to find a job a full […]

Time to Ditch Bad Leaders

By Krishna Dharma DasToday’s leaders are mostly just managers. Leadership guru Stephen Covey puts it nicely when he says, “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” We all want happiness and the right wall is the one which, when we get to […]

Christian Ethical Vegetarianism

 For the Huffington PostDo Christians have moral obligations to animate creation? Many say no, citing the mandate to “have dominion” over all living things (Genesis 1:28) as reason enough to dismiss notions of animal welfare as a religious obligation. This verse is unambiguous, they argue, demonstrating that animals are a gift from God, available for […]

Beyond Food

By Sesa Das on 21 Sep 2011for ISKCON NewsAccording to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word goes back to the pre-Germanic (gothic) word fodeins, and the root of this word fod, which meant something like “to tend, keep, pasture, to protect.” I’ve always had a distaste for food. I mean the word “food”. It just […]

Good News is No News

As George Orwell famously said in his novel ‘1984’, “Big Brother is watching you.” Well, not any more. Now we’re watching Big Brother. Over six million people in the UK alone tune in to the “reality” TV show to watch others eat, sleep and largely fight with each other. By Krishna Dharma Das for krishnadharma.com […]

The Money Analogy and the Politics of Doing the Right Thing

According to Vaishnava teaching, one can gauge a person’s spiritual status by how they react to finding money on the street: Do they keep it for themselves? Do they leave it lying there? By Satyaraj Dasa (Steven Rosen) on 9 Sep 2011 for ISKCON News Begging cat on the street According to Vaishnava teaching, one […]

Becoming Hindu and Finding the Essence of All Spiritual Paths

By Radhanatha Swami for Huffington Post on 2 Sep 2011 The tension between the essence of spiritual teachings and the harmful fundamentalism that often arises in the name of religion is an issue that has engaged my mind practically as far back as I can remember. I recall in my childhood asking, “How is it […]

Understanding (Not Burning) Holy Books

By Kripamoya Das for deshika.wordpress.com on 9 Apr 2011This year is the 400th anniversary of the publishing of the King James version of the Holy Bible. Its a great work of the English language and remains loved after four long centuries. Together with the works of William Shakespeare, it has contributed many words and expressions […]

Social Engineering

By Sesa Das for ISKCON News on 14 Jan 2011Littering is a problem in the city of Vrindavan, India. Friends who recently returned from a pilgrimage to that holy place expressed to me how they were disturbed to see piles of trash lining the streets. Littering is a problem in the city of Vrindavan, India. […]

Are Economic Development and Bhakti Mutually exclusive?

By Vrndavanlila dasiThe beauty of Vedic life lies in recognizing difference in the nature of different human beings, in their proclivities and natural capabilities (that is why varnasrama) and further sanctifying everything, including the carnal requirements (that is why daivi-varnasrama); therefore the pursuit of artha and kama was also defined by dharma or morality. Development […]

Why Oh Why Didn’T I Take The Blue Pill?

By Jeevanmukta DasWhen push comes to shove, some of us tend to align with science and scientists rather than shastras and guru. Indeed, when presented with what seems like irrefutable scientific data, most will abandon ship and the captain and swim over to the science barge and waltz with the scientists! When push comes to […]

Spiritual Economics

By Krishna Dharma Das Maybe it’s time for a new approach. Government is perennially obsessed with “growing” the economy, but is that helpful? They want to see a ‘healthy’ cash flow, more business, more people working, more spending and generally more consumption all round, but this can only exacerbate the problems we face, both globally […]

World Leadership: Where are we going?

By Sesha DasAmericans…you gotta love us! Whether through positive thinking or downright self-delusion, we Americans always find a way to promote an image of our world leadership, even if it means putting a spin on evidence that is thoroughly damning to our cause. Americans…you gotta love us! Whether through positive thinking or downright self-delusion, we […]

Human Rights Day 2010 and ISKCON

By Sesa Das on 16 Dec 2010For those of you would keep track of such things, last week’s celebration of Human Rights Day in Reno, Nevada was another indication of the growing acceptance of Vedic Culture around the world. For those of you would keep track of such things, last week’s celebration of Human Rights […]

Unnatural Solutions Cause More Problems

By Krishna DharmaLast month a cover of New Scientist had emblazoned on its cover, “Move over nature, we’re taking control” Last month a cover of New Scientist had emblazoned on its cover, “Move over nature, we’re taking control” Interesting, I thought. Have they discovered some way of checking the force of hurricanes? Could it be […]

Globalization Destroys Rural Communities

Recently, I was visiting Bhatinda in Punjab because of an epidemic of farmers suicides. Punjab used to be the most prosperous agricultural region in India. Today every farmer is in debt and despair. Read more…

$ex and the Internet

Several years ago I began to notice that advertisements began to appear on my computer that were related to the subject matter of my emails. Read More…

For Whom Does Hinduism Speak?

by H.J. Resnick (aka Hridayananda Dasa Gosvami)In this essay H.J. Resnick explains where the term ‘Hindu’ originates from. He asks for whom does the term ‘Hindu’ speak and who can speak for the ‘Hindus’. To which of the multitude of widely differing worldviews does this term apply? What are the implications of accepting ‘Hindu’ as […]