“According to the instruction of Lord Krishna, Nanda Maharaja and the cowherd men called in learned brahmanas and began to worship Govardhana Hill by chanting Vedic hymns and offering prasadam. The inhabitants of Vrindavana assembled together, decorated their cows and gave them grass. Keeping the cows in front, they began to circumambulate Govardhana Hill.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 24)

“Why should we listen to you? Who are you anyway? Where is your authority? We’ve been doing it our way for years. No one has had any problem with it. Now you come and tell us to change. You want us to worship a neighboring hill instead. You think that this will be better for us, but in what way? You are new to this town, while the traditions we follow predate us. They have done good for our community for so long, so I don’t…

“Lord Chaitanya has recommended that since Krishna is worshipable, so His land, Vrindavana and Govardhana Hill, are also worshipable. To confirm this statement, Lord Krishna said that Govardhana Puja is as good as worship of Him. From that day, the Govardhana Puja has been still going on and is known as Annakuta.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 24)

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Every year on the day after Diwali, there is the celebration known as Govardhana Puja. Devotees not residing by the original sacred spot of land in Vrindavana create a mock version of the famous hill and bring various offerings. As the Supreme Lord says in the Bhagavad-gita, He is satisfied with any simple offering made in devotion, but for Govardhana Puja up to fifty-six different preparations can be made.

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a…

“The form which you are seeing with your transcendental eyes cannot be understood simply by studying the Vedas, nor by undergoing serious penances, nor by charity, nor by worship. It is not by these means that one can see Me as I am.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 11.53)

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Shri Krishna had just shown Arjuna the virata-rupa, the universal form. This is the complete everything. Put all things that you can think of, existing in this world and in others, into a single image – that somewhat explains the universal form. The vision is not easy to get; Arjuna needed a special set of eyes granted to him prior to viewing.

Then Krishna showed His four-handed form of Narayana. This is the proof of Divinity for the personalists, those who understand that God is originally a distinct personality. Still, the Supreme Lord returned to…

“One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.18)

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The result was a war that saw the deaths of millions. The main cause, the leading fighter for the ultimately victorious side, Arjuna, didn’t want to fight at first. He was ready to lay down his weapons, retire to the forest, and avoid the consequences to destroying friends and family fighting for the opposing side.

It was his dear friend, cousin, and charioteer who got his mind right. The close friend turned into a guru at Arjuna’s behest and then urged the warrior to stand up and fight. That person is purported to be divine, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in fact. How could God advise anyone towards death and destruction?

“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.9)

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The demons and the demigods. Good and evil. The righteous path and sinful life. These dichotomies have existed since the beginning of time, before anyone can remember. The reason is simple: freedom. Every living being has a small amount of independence granted them by the creator. Indeed, without this independence there would be no existence. Every living thing would be like a robot, preprogrammed to act a certain way. They would be considered dead inside, soulless.

The human life is the chance to consciously choose. There is rational thought. There is a high potential for intelligence. In many ways the human birth is like arriving at…

“Hearing the attractive pastimes of Lord Krishna’s different incarnations is a chance for liberation for the conditioned soul, and the most fascinating and pleasing activities of Lord Krishna Himself are still more attractive because Lord Krishna personally is all-attractive.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 2, Ch 35)

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Question: “Aren’t all religions the same? Aren’t they referring to the same Almighty? Why the insistence on chanting the maha-mantra, then? Why the need to go in depth, to understand such concepts as the cycle of birth and death, fruitive activity, piety and sin, and the different species? What is the harm in simply accepting that a higher power exists and then living your life?”

Teachers in the Vaishnava tradition strongly emphasize the chanting of the holy names. There are so many names for the Supreme Lord, so it is not that only one…

“When the parampara system was lost, Arjuna was again selected to rejuvenate it. The acceptance of Arjuna of all that Krishna says should be emulated; then we can understand the essence of Bhagavad-gita, and then only can we understand that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 10.14 Purport)

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It’s a fine day in the neighborhood. It’s calm and peaceful and the weather is nice. As usual, the morning paper arrives at the door. On this day, the young son picks it up, imitating the actions of the father. They flip through the pages, pretending to be reading. But in fact, they have yet to learn reading and writing. They can only look at the words. If this person spent an entire year looking at the same words, would they suddenly learn how to read? This example can be used…

“Ishvara (the Supreme Lord), jiva (the living entity), prakriti (nature), eternal time and karma (activity) are all explained in the Bhagavad-gita. Out of these five, the Lord, the living entities, material nature and time are eternal.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, Introduction)

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Not only is the Bhagavad-gita a thorough presentation of the science of self-realization, but it is completely honest as well. No relevant subject matter is hidden from view. Though considered a religious book by the less intelligent, in the Bhagavad-gita there is no mention of a specific faith. . The fact that all sides are discussed further substantiates the teacher’s standing as the highest authority figure.

The teacher who speaks the Bhagavad-gita is Shri Krishna. In the timeline of our history, He is a personality who appeared on this earth some five thousand years ago. He was the rightful son of Vasudeva and…