Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

We are gathered here to celebrate the appearance day of Sri Advaita Acharya. Advaita Acharya is an incarnation of Maha-vishnu. In terms of pastimes, He appeared before Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and so was considered an elder by Mahaprabhu. He was actually older than Lord Chaitanya’s own father. Advaita Acharya, although Vishnu Himself, was in the […]

Today is the appearance day of Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami and many other acharyas and associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was born in a very aristocratic family in Bengal. His father and uncle, Govardhana and Hiranya Mazumdar, were wealthy landlords, or zamindars; they were almost like kings in opulence. But although […]

 

Question: “Why, at the time of death, the name of God does not come to the tongue?” Prabhupada: Because you are not practiced. You practice to chant Hare Krishna, at the time of death it will come. Abhyasa-yoga-yuktena cetasa nanya-gamina. [“He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering […]

For Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s appearance day I thought to read a verse and purport about him from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten, “The Branches of the Caitanya Tree”: TEXT 105 sri gopala bhatta eka sakha sarvottama rupa-sanatana-sange yanra prema-alapana TRANSLATION Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches […]

Dear Giriraj Swami, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Thank for all your blessings and prayers. My mother always took pride in serving you in India and South Africa throughout the 1980s and ’90s. We are blessed to have had such a wonderful mother and are also eternally grateful for the […]

On January 10, my beloved disciple Palika Dasi left her body in South Africa. Kindly read Madri Dasi’s beautiful description of this wonderful devotee. Bitten by the Krishna Bug: Honoring the Life of Palika Dasi By Madri Dasi A few days ago, I heard of Palika’s transitioning from this mortal world. I did not want […]

On October 3, 1974, in Mayapur, Srila Prabhupada spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.23, Queen Kunti’s prayer: yatha hrsikesa khalena devaki   kamsena ruddhaticiram sucarpita vimocitaham ca sahatmaja vibho   tvayaiva nathena muhur vipad-ganat “O Hrsikesa, the master of the senses and the Lord of lords, You have released Your Mother Devaki, who was long imprisoned and […]

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten describes the branches of the tree named Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. TEXT 1 sri-caitanya-padambhoja-   madhupebhyo namo namah kathancid asrayad yesam   svapi tad-gandha-bhag bhavet TRANSLATION Let me repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto the beelike devotees who always taste the honey of the lotus feet of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If even […]

Giriraj Swami begins at 1:20.

We are entering the New Year, 2022, and on such occasions we take stock of what and how we did in the previous year and what we want to do in the next. Studies have shown, and probably many of us have experienced, that most New Year’s resolutions are broken during the first week. Still […]

Twenty years ago, with a group of three people, I went to the ancient Russian city of Suzdal to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. It was a bold decision to go to a place where almost every second resident was a nun or a priest, and almost every corner had a church or a temple. On […]

Radhanath Swami: This morning I was listening to the recording of Srila Prabhupada on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s disappearance day in Hyderabad (I think it was 1972), and it is very, very special, because Srila Prabhupada wrote that beautiful poem for him in 1936, and that poem was lost. Srila Prabhupada was saying in this […]

“Who is a saint? A saint is tolerant, very tolerant—tolerant to the utmost. You have got a very good example in Lord Jesus Christ, a great saint or sadhu. Of course, he was more than a sadhu. Now, just see his behavior, how much tolerant he was. He was being crucified, and he was praying […]

“Now these Christmas holidays have begun in your country. Throughout the whole month of December you’ll observe nice festivities. Why? It began with God consciousness. Jesus Christ came to give you God consciousness, and in relation to him these festivities are going on. It may have degraded into another form, but the beginning was God […]

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, is my grand spiritual master, but I feel that I never really knew him very well until I read his biography Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, by my godbrother Bhakti Vikasa Swami. Many of the quotes and references below come from that work.  We are all here by the […]

In the West, this is the holiday season, with Christmas and Hanukkah both coming up. As Srila Prabhupada explained, the Lord comes to this world to enlighten people with transcendental knowledge. Sometimes He comes personally, and sometimes He sends His son or His prophet or His representative, but they all come with the same message. […]

In the first verse of the Bhagavad-gita, the low-minded king Dhrtarastra asks his secretary, “O Sanjaya, after my sons and the sons of Pandu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, desiring to fight, what did they do?” Kim akurvata: “What did they do?” Srila Prabhupada says that this is a foolish question. The […]

Gita Jayanti is the day on which Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna. The Gita is also known as the Gitopanisad and is considered one of the Upanisads. The title Bhagavad-gita is sometimes translated as “The Song of God.” Gita means “song.” God, Krishna, is so sublime that whatever He speaks is music and […]

Achyutananda Prabhu says that according to proper kirtan principles, we should always begin with Srila Prabhupada’s pranama-mantras. He said that he noticed several kirtan leaders not doing this or not knowing kirtan etiquette. A Russian devotee, Purnamasi devi dasi, told the story of when she was imprisoned by the KGB for practicing and preaching Krishna […]

Today is Odana-sasthi, the date on which Lord Jagannatha is given a winter shawl. One year when Lord Chaitanya and His associates celebrated this festival in Puri, Pundarika Vidyanidhi, who is Vrsabhanu Maharaja, Srimati Radharani’s father, in krsna-lila, received some special mercy. His experience is instructive for us all. Srila Prabhupada explains, “At the beginning […]

The following account is from Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Bhaktisiddhanta Dasa. Srila Prabhupada appeared to Prthuputra Swami, the first French sannyasi, just before Prthuputra died. Maharaja had done a lot of service for Srila Prabhupada’s preaching mission. But after Srila Prabhupada’s physical demise, Prthuputra left Krishna consciousness. He broke the regulative principle and went back to the sinful […]

My dear devotees, Please accept my best wishes. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. In a letter to me dated December 1971, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “Go on increasing books, and go on increasing my pleasure.” December is a special opportunity to focus on Srila Prabhupada’s desire that we distribute books—and thus increase his pleasure. As he […]

 

If we are at all aware of how dependent we are on God—for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and our very ability to eat and drink and breathe, to think and feel and will, and to walk, talk, and sense—we will feel grateful and want to reciprocate God’s […]