Everyone

For hundreds of years, philosophers and theologians have debated whether God is ultimately personal or impersonal. After all, the nature of God plays a major role in our fate. If God is a person, then we have the potential for a loving, eternal relationship with Him. But if God isn't a person and is instead impersonal, like a light we merge into, then we miss out on the opportunity for such a relationship.

"I offer my respectful obeisances to the Supreme Absolute Truth, Krishna, who is the well-wisher of the cows and the brahmanas as well as the living entities in general. I offer my repeated obeisances to Govinda, who is the pleasure reservoir for all the senses." (Vishnu Purana 1.19.65)

To commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of Back to Godhead, we present Srila Prabhupada's opening article of his first issue of the magazine, which he launched on the appearance day of his spiritual master in 1944. The world was at war, and Srila Prabhupada discusses that harsh reality in light of the purpose of the magazine.

I was in Houston, Texas, for the premiere screening of the Hare Krishna! film, and during the question-and-answer session after the screening, an elderly woman in the front row raised her hand. I called on her.

The Bhagavad-gita teaches that we cannot avoid old age, disease, or death. When Srila Prabhupada brought Krishna consciousness to America in 1965, his young disciples accepted the truth of this teaching. And as time has passed and devotees have aged, this teaching has become more relevant. Gurudas, one of Prabhupada's earliest disciples, has spent his life in Krishna's service.

"Thus the knots of the heart and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions, or karma, is terminated when one sees one's self and one's master." – Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.21

When Srila Prabhupada arrived in America in 1965, he first stayed at the home of Gopal and Sally Agarwal in Butler, Pennsylvania. After a month he traveled to New York, where he opened the first storefront temple. Then he went on to establish a temple in San Francisco.

I'm looking out my window at rounded mounds of snow piled against the tool shed. The winter British Columbia sky is gray, and pointy icicles are hanging from the edge of the roof. I'm warm and cozy inside our log cabin, and quite comfortable except for the swollen black eye I'm nursing. Let me tell you about the eye.

[Excerpted from Wise-Love: Bhakti and the Search for the Soul of Consciousness, by Pranada Comtois. Copyright by the author. Available from amazon.com. This concise handbook introduces bhakti-yoga to spiritual seekers and western yogis. We've retained the book's style for dealing with Sanskrit and other considerations.]