Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

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 […]

Today is Jayananda Prabhu’s disappearance day. He left his body in New Dvaraka, LosAngeles, in 1977. Some weeks earlier, Srila Prabhupada had written him, “A sadhu may live or die, it doesn’t matter. While living he is engaged in Krishna conscious business, and when dying he goes back home, back to Godhead.” For Jayananda Prabhu’s […]

Today is Rukmini-dvadasi, the appearance day of Srimati Rukmini-devi. There have been wonderful festivities all day, beginning with the special darshan of the Deities in Their flower outfits, and just now a wonderful abhiseka. During the abhiseka I really felt like I was in Vrindavan. There was so much devotion, spontaneous devotion—every time the pujaris […]

Today is Sita-navami, the appearance day of Srimati Sitadevi, the eternal consort of Lord Ramachandra. She appeared as the daughter of King Janaka, one of the twelve mahajanas, great authorities in Krishna consciousness, and thus one of her names is Janaki. To begin, we shall read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter Nine: “Lord Caitanya’s Travels […]

Posted by Giriraj Swami on Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Mother Arca Vigraha left this world on Jahnu Saptami, which this year is May 18. TEXT sa ca svarlokam aroksyan   sunitim jananim dhruvah anvasmarad agam hitva   dinam yasye tri-vistapam TRANSLATION Dhruva was seated in the transcendental airplane, which was just about to start, when he remembered his poor mother, Suniti. He thought to […]

 

Today we continue our observance of Candana-yatra. We are reading from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter Four: “Sri Madhavendra Puri’s Devotional Service,” which describes how Madhavendra Puri traveled by foot from Govardhana to Jagannatha Puri to procure sandalwood to grind and mix with camphor and place on the body of the Deity Gopala whom he had […]

The day known as Aksaya-tritiya occurs on the third day (tritiya) of the waxing moon in the month of Vaisakha. Every second of this blessed day is completely auspicious, and so there is no consideration of any one period (muhurta) being better than another. Aksaya means “inexhaustible”; anything a person undertakes on the day of […]

Posted by Giriraj Swami on Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Today is the most auspicious occasion of Sri Gadadhara Pandita’s appearance day. As many of you know, Lord Chaitanya is Krishna Himself in the role of His own devotee. He is Krishna, but with the complexion and mood of Srimati Radharani. There are different purposes for the Lord’s advent. The internal reason for Lord Chaitanya’s […]

“There are very exalted spiritual understandings in Krishna consciousness. They are not fictional, imaginary, or concocted. They are facts, and every devotee can have the privilege to understand and indeed take part in Krishna’s pastimes if he is actually advanced. We should not think that the privilege given to Mother Yasoda is not available to […]