September/October 2012

Welcome From the earliest days of the Hare Krishna movement Srila Prabhupada encouraged disciples to produce paintings of Lord Krishna and other subjects related to Krishna consciousness. His disciple Vishnu Dasa has been doing that since early in his devotional life. In this issue he talks about painting for Prabhupada’s books and the inspiration for some of his later paintings.

Vishnu Dasa’s life as an artist exemplifies an important principle of bhakti-yoga: using one’s particular nature in Krishna’s service. Understanding who we are in this life, therefore, can help us progress spiritually, and that’s the theme of “Bhakti and Our Authentic Illusory Self,” by Archana Siddhi Devi Dasi. By engaging our particular natures in bhakti-yoga, we move beyond the limited, bodily conception of self that stifles us individually and blocks all attempts at universal brotherhood, as Hari Sauri Dasa explains in “The True Sage Sees With Equal Vision.”

Seeing all living beings with equal vision is one of many enlightened ideals expressed by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita, an often misunderstood text. Attempts by some in Russia to ban Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is inspired Chaitanya Charana Dasa’s “Extremist Misconceptions About the Bhagavad-gita.”

Hare Krishna.—Nagaraja Dasa, Editor

Departments

Who’s Scared?

Religious Views Towards Women in the Public Sphere

The Lack of Human Reasoning

Letters

Vedic Thoughts