Free Writes Chess Players There is a group of black men who play chess every day near the harinama party in Union Square Park. One of the players didn’t like the harinama singers. He complained that they make too much noise and disturb him. The other chess players set him up: if he lost the […]

Free Writes Chalice In the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus went to pray, he said to God the Father, “Please do not put this chalice [of suffering] before me.” Then he said, “But Your will, not mine.” In the churning of the milk ocean, Dhanvantari appeared holding a chalice containing the nectar which the demigods […]

Two Burfis I ate two and they were delicious, made from the milk of Gita-nagari cows. But even as I took the second one, I realized I should have limited myself to one. One was satisfying and enough; two was piggish. It could lead to weight gain. Although I was saved because it was prasadam, […]

Free Writes Dais For the first year at 26 Second Avenue we had no vyasasana for Prabhupada. We had only built him a wooden platform with a pillow on it and a backrest. In a lecture from that time, Prabhupada said, “I am sitting on this dais . . .” He went on to say […]

An Update of Our Reading of Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta: Prabhupada had been given land in charity at Ramana-reti, Vrndavana, for building a temple. Mr. and Mrs. S. placed two pieces of paper before the Deity of Radharani. One piece of paper said “Yes,” and the other said, “No.” When a devotee of ISKCON opened the one […]

Index: A Random Look at the Index of Krsna Book Chanting Hare Krsna as best chanting, 767 “It is said that this age of Kali is three-fourths devoid of religious principles. Hardly one-fourth of the principles are still observed in this age. But by the mercy of Lord Krsna, not only has this void of […]

When Swamiji went to San Francisco in January 1967, leaving behind his disciples in New York, we felt bereft. He told us to carry out all the activities we had done together. We tried, but getting up early in the morning, chanting our rounds, going to the temple by 7:00 A.M. and taking turns giving […]

A Random Peek at Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th Ed.) mridanga n. [Skt.] : a drum of India that is shaped like an elongated barrel and has two heads of different diameters. Lord Caitanya favored the mridanga and had different drummers play in His sankirtana parties. It is an ideal accompaniment to Hare Krsna kirtana, one […]