Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

Today is Guru-purnima. Srila Prabhupada has explained that the system of honoring the spiritual master is current in all sections of Vedic followers. In the Mayavadi (impersonalist) sects, the disciples offer respect to the spiritual master once a year, on Guru-purnima. And in the Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya, the disciples offer homage annually on the appearance […]

Radhanath Swami: “I was in Vrindavan in 1971, and I was among five or six other people sitting around Srila Prabhupada. He wasn’t my guru then; he was just one of the saints I was coming to visit. And Srila Prabhupada was in Vrindavan for a few days. Somebody asked him, ‘Are you the guru […]

It is a great honor, privilege, and pleasure to be here on the auspicious occasion of Snana-yatra. The first deities of Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra in ISKCON were discovered in San Francisco in 1967. One of Srila Prabhupada’s early disciples, Malati dasi, saw a small figure in an import store, Cost Plus, and brought it […]

Today we are observing the disappearance day of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Sri Gadadhara Pandita. I first learned of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura when I visited the Boston temple. At that time there were only two published books in ISKCON: the abridged edition of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, published by Macmillan, and Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, […]

Srivasa Pandit is one of the members of the Panca-tattva: sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasa. Vedic authorities state that in the current Age of Kali, Krishna came as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Balarama came as Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Similarly, Maha-vishnu appeared as Advaita Acharya, Srimati Radharani as Gadadhara Pandit, and Narada Muni as Srivasa Pandit. […]

Srila Prabhupada emphasized that management and preaching go together. “Good management follows preaching like a shadow,” he wrote, “and the best thing is that the managers should always be preaching.” At a certain stage in India during Srila Prabhupada’s presence, Tamal Krishna Goswami, who was the GBC for India, wanted to leave and go to […]

The transcendental vibration of chanting of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare is the sublime method of reviving our Krishna consciousness. As living spiritual souls, we are all originally Krishna conscious entities, but due to our association with matter since time immemorial, our consciousness […]

We have gathered at the lotus feet of the Pancha-tattva on this most auspicious occasion of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami’s cida-dadhi festival, the background to which can be found in his early life. Raghunatha dasa’s uncle and father, Hiranya and Govardhana Majumadara, were wealthy landlords in Bengal—almost like kings—and had a huge, opulent riverside palace, with […]

 

Ekadasi is one of the regular celebrations in the Vaishnava calendar. It is observed eleven days after the full moon and eleven days after the new moon of every month. Even in the thirteenth, or leap, month, called adhika-masa, or purusottama-masa, which comes every three years, during which no other festivals are celebrated, Ekadasi is […]

Srila Prabhupada expressed his appreciation for his father in his dedication to his book Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead: “To My Father, Gour Mohan De (1849-1930)—A pure devotee of Krsna, who raised me as a Krsna conscious child from the beginning of my life. In my boyhood ages he instructed me how to play […]

 

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I met Mother Balai through my sister Padyavali, who lived in Kinross in the Eastern Transvaal. Whenever I visited Kinross I would do as much sankirtana as possible, and soon, through the effort of the devotees, a nama-hatta was established. Padyavali regularly brought prasadam for Mother Balai and her family, and soon Balai; her good […]

When I heard of the passing away of Mother Balai due to COVID-19, so many joyful devotional memories of us together flooded my mind and heart. She was given the name Narasimha at birth and was fun loving from the start. Her recounting of her growing up was filled with stories of fearlessly swimming in […]

Today my beloved disciple Balai Dasi, from Kinross, South Africa, passed away, due to Covid. She was a kind, generous, hospitable, staunch devotee—a mother to many—and she will be sorely missed. Please join me in praying for her auspicious onward spiri…

Today is Sri Ramananda Raya’s disappearance day. As stated in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi 10.134, “Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu told Bhavananda Raya, ‘Your five sons are all My dear devotees. Ramananda Raya and I are one, although our bodies are different.’ ” And in his purport, Srila Prabhupada explains: “The Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (120–24) states that Ramananda Raya was […]

The following account was given by Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Atma Tattva Dasa. In the early ’80s, in Bangalore, I was required to make at least two Life Members a month. I was a bad Life Membership maker, and one month I had only ten days left. I was looking in the telephone directory for Bengali […]

Today His Grace Mahaprabhu Dasa (Sri R. K. Maheshwari), my dear friend and Srila Prabhupada’s staunch devotee, passed away at his home in Khar, Mumbai. To honor his sacred memory, here is an excerpt from my book I’ll Build You a Temple: The Juhu Story about Mahaprabhu’s first visit to Hare Krishna Land, on the […]

Today is Nrsimha-caturdasi, the appearance day of Lord Nrsimhadeva. The appearance and activities of the Lord in the world are a great mystery. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita (4.9) Lord Krishna says: janma karma ca me divyam    evam yo vetti tattvatah tyaktva deham punar janma    naiti mam eti so ’rjuna “One who knows the […]