Articles about Philosophy and Spirituality

from Back to Godhead, Vol 13, # 11, 1978   “Thanks to inflation,” says a recent release from the Associated Press, “you are now worth 5½ times more than you were just a few years ago. “The calcium, magnesium, iron and other chemicals in an adult’s body were worth 98 cents in the early part of this decade; now they’re worth $5.60, according to Dr. Harry Monsen, a professor of anatomy at Illinois College of Medicine. ‘And the price will keep going up, just like it’s doing with cadavers and skeletons,’ he said. ‘We are caught in the inflation spiral.’ ” What we are caught … [Read more...] about How Much Are You Worth?

from Back to Godhead, 18/6, June 1983 The case history of a little girl from West Bengal suggests she remembered a life she had lived before The Story of Sukla The theory of reincarnation More about Minu Scientific inquiries Sukla visits her “former family” Fraud? Hidden memories? Not just information but behavior Super ESP? Reincarnation revisited: a puzzle for science A different way of understanding Changing from one body to the next Liberation from persistent lifetimes Before it all fades Suggested reading The Story of Sukla When Sukla Gupta was a year and a half old and barely able to … [Read more...] about Do We Live More Than Once?

from Back to Godhead, May-June 1994   Here's a page full of reasons. I'll spare you the footnotes, but each reason is fully upheld by evidence from Vedic writings like Bhagavad-gita, the Upanisads, and the Puranas. Chanting Hare Krishna awakens love of God. Chanting Hare Krishna brings liberation as a side benefit along the way. When you chant Hare Krishna, you automatically develop knowledge and detachment. Chanting Hare Krishna gets you out of the endless cycle of birth and death. It is the most effective means of self-realization in the present Age of Quarrel. … [Read more...] about Why Chant Hare Krishna?

  On learning that the material world is not our real home, we naturally wonder, “How did we get here?” from Back to Godhead, May-June 1993   When we hear that we live in this material world because we are “fallen souls,” it’s natural for us to ask, “Where have we fallen from?” Srila Prabhupada says that as living souls we are all originally Krishna conscious. But what does that mean? Were we all originally with Krishna in the spiritual world? And if so, how could we ever have fallen? In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says, “Once you attain to that spiritual world, you … [Read more...] about Where Do the Fallen Souls Fall From?

from Back to Godhead, July-August 1995   In the pages of Back to Godhead you may often come across the term "disciplic succession." It's an English rendering of the Sanskrit word parampara. The meaning of the word is simple yet important. The parampara is the chain of spiritual masters and disciples through which Krishna consciousness is taught and received. In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says, "I taught this ancient science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan. Vivasvan taught it to his son Manu. And Manu taught it to his son Iksvaku. In this way, through the system of parampara, … [Read more...] about From Master to Disciple