Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

A talk by Giriraj Swami, June 15, 2008, Laguna Beach, California. We have gathered at the lotus feet of the Pancha-tattva on this most auspicious occasion of Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami’s cida-dadhi festival. The background to this incident can be found in Raghunatha dasa’s early life. His uncle and father, Hiranya and Govardhana Majumadara, were wealthy landlords […]

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 […]

Giriraj Swami spoke and read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Antya-lila chapter 6 “Raghunatha dasa offered his obeisances by falling prostrate at a distant place, and the servant of Nityananda Prabhu pointed out, “There is Raghunatha dasa, offering You obeisances.” Hearing this, Lord Nityananda Prabhu said, “You are a thief. Now you have come to see Me. […]

On Friday my chiropractor told me, “I think you will be ready to go to India next year. You withstood the travel to the East Coast well—your body feels strong and resilient—and I think you will be able to manage the trip to India.” He had never said anything like that to me before, and […]

Panihati festival with Indradyumna Swami and Giriraj Swami
Posted by ISKCON Laguna Beach on Saturday, June 8, 2019

ISKCON of Baltimore Sunday feast
Posted by Giriraj Swami on Sunday, June 2, 2019

Sunday Open House class at the ISKCON of DC temple.
Posted by Giriraj Swami on Sunday, June 2, 2019

 
Posted by Giriraj Swami on Saturday, June 1, 2019

Home program at Amrita Gopi devi dasi’s home in Gaithersburg, MD.
Posted by Giriraj Swami on Friday, May 31, 2019

 
Home program at Hitesh and Pragna Patel, MDs
Posted by Giriraj Swami on Thursday, May 30, 2019

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“Hearing of the holy name gradually promotes one to the stage of hearing about His form, His attributes, His pastimes, and so on, and thus the necessity of the chanting of His glories develops successively. This process is recommended not only for the successful execution of devotional service, but also even for those who are […]

Today in Vrindavan is a memorial program for Srila Prabhupada’s dear disciple Parvati devi dasi. I wrote a letter to her for the occasion: My dear Parvati Devi, Please accept my humble, respectful obeisances. All glories to our eternal spiritual master and savior, Srila Prabhupada. Now you have left us—on Mohini Ekadasi, in Vrindavan—and we […]

titiksavah karunikah suhrdah sarva-dehinam ajata-satravah santah sadhavah sadhu-bhusanah Translation: The symptoms of a sadhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime. SB 3.25.21 “Srila Prabhupada related this verse to his own situation […]

Srila Prabhupada was with us in Juhu for Nrsimha-caturdasi on May 5, 1974. The following excerpt from my forthcoming book about Srila Prabhupada and Juhu, entitled I’ll Build You a Temple: A Good Fight and a Promise Fulfilled, describes the devotees’ drama: For Nrsimha-caturdasi, a troupe of devotees led by Jagat Purusa organized a drama […]

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 […]

Candana-yatra began on Aksaya Tritiya, May 7, and continues for twenty-one days. 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 […]

Today is Sita-navami, the appearance day of Srimati Sitadevi, the eternal consort of Lord Ramachandra. To begin, we shall read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter Nine: “Lord Caitanya’s Travels to the Holy Places.” TEXT 2 jaya jaya sri-caitanya jaya nityananda jayadvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vrnda TRANSLATION All glories to Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu! All glories to Lord […]

My mind is so filled with memories of Mother Arca-vigraha that it is difficult to isolate what inspired me about her. But I think she embodied the two most important devotional principles—chanting the holy names and serving the Vaishnavas—and she performed these activities with great determination and enthusiasm. I miss her as a friend. She […]

On Jahnu-saptami twenty-five years ago His Holiness Giriraj Swami’s disciple Arca-vigraha devi dasi passed away from this world and went back to Godhead. Mother Arca-vigraha and I were very good friends and had been friends for a long time. We first met in 1986, when she came to Vrindavan. Then, in 1987, I went to […]

Today is Aksaya Tritiya. In May 2003 I wrote Deena Bandhu Prabhu, my godbrother who is based in Vrindavan, about the date, and his reply follows: My dear Giriraj Swamiji, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! I’m not sure of the history of Aksaya Tritiya. But ksaya means to diminish, so […]

  Initiation Ceremony by HH Giriraj Swami Posted by ISKCON Durban on Saturday, May 4, 2019 . On Sri Gadadhara Pandita’s appearance day, Giriraj Swami officially connected seven disciples with Srila Prabhupada and the parampara: Anil Basdew became Ananda Krishna dasa, Clive Jugathpal became Krishna Kishore dasa, Leeann Govindsamy became Lila Manjari dasi, Mayawatee Sewjathan […]

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 a 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 appearance […]

Today is Srila Vrindavan dasa Thakura’s appearance day. Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 11.55) states, “Srila Vyasadeva described the pastimes of Krsna in Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Vyasa of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was Vrndavana dasa.” In his purport, Srila Prabhupada elaborates, “Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura was an incarnation of Vedavyasa and also a friendly cowherd boy […]

A talk by Giriraj Swami, September 5, 2010, Sri Vrindavan Dham, Kazakhstan. Hearing His Holiness Niranjana Swami’s wonderful talk, I felt we were being elevated to the spiritual world. He quoted from Vishnujana Maharaja. Vishnujana had a program in which he went by boat along the Ganges River, in Bengal, and chanted the holy names all day, […]

Sripada Jayapataka Swami’s Vyasa-puja in Houston, April 15, 2019.

Anticipating Earth Day, I thought of a prayer that resonated with me in my youth: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For He has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or […]

For Balarama Rasa-yatra, we shall read from Srila Prabhupada’s summary study of the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, called Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead—about Lord Balarama’s visit to Vrindavan after He and Krishna had been away from Vrindavan for many years. In our meditation on the deity of the Lord, we begin from His lotus […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad Bhagavatam 2.7.23. “Ravana wanted to take the property of the Lord and enjoy it for himself. We, in our own ways, may have that same inclination—to be the proprietors, the enjoyers, and the controllers. That is the mind and the false ego which puts us in competition with […]

“Jatayu was really no match for Ravana. But still, out of duty and love, he fought Ravana and was defeated. Later when Lord Ramachandra was travelling through the forest looking for Sita, He came upon Jatayu who explained exactly what he had seen. Lord Ramachandra was so pleased with him He embraced Jatayu and told […]

Giriraj Swami, SB 2.3.23, Home Program, Houston from Derek Carter on Vimeo.
Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3 23 (Right-click to download)

Today, in observance of Sri Rama-navami, we shall read a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: “Scheduled Incarnations.” TEXT 24 yasma adad udadhir udha-bhayanga-vepo margam sapady ari-puram haravad didhaksoh dure suhrn-mathita-rosa-susona-drstya tatapyamana-makaroraga-nakra-cakrah TRANSLATION The Personality of Godhead Ramacandra, being aggrieved for His distant intimate friend [Sita], glanced over the city of the enemy Ravana […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Bhagavad-gita 3.10. “After reading and examining and discussing, the conclusion is that we should engage in sankirtan yajna. That will enable us to live happily in this life and to go back home back to Godhead at the end of this life. We should all chant as much as […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Bhagavad-gita 3.10. “The Lord created this material world to enable the conditioned souls to learn how to perform yajñas (sacri?ces) for the satisfaction of Visnu, so that while in the material world they can live very comfortably without anxiety, and after ?nishing the present material body they can enter into the […]

 
HH Giriraj Swami Bhakti-v?k?a Program Coppell, TX
Posted by Radha Kalachandji Temple in Dallas on Friday, April 5, 2019

Audio File
Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.17 (Right-click to download)

“The residents of Vrindavan, including Srimati Radharani, decided to go to Kurukshetra to see Krishna. Krishna—or Jagannatha, His sister Subhadra and brother Balarama went from Dwaraka to Kurukshetra on a chariot. When they got to Kurukshetra the residents of Vrindavan met them and they were filled with ecstatic love to see Krishna again after a […]

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Ratha-yatra Address (Right-click to download)

“If you buy a plane ticket from Dallas to New York in a way it is your destiny to go to New York. But you still have free will to decide how you use your time on the airplane and once you arrive. Our destiny may carry us in a certain direction to a certain […]

April Fools’ Day is celebrated yearly on April 1, and today I thought of Srila Prabhupada’s instruction that we remain fools before the spiritual master. In a room conversation in Bombay, on August 16, 1976, a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada whether even a nitya-siddha, a liberated soul, had a guru. “A liberated soul never says […]