Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

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

I received the following letter from Vrndavanesvari dasi in South Africa. Dear Guru Maharaja, Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and all glories to your divine self. During the renovations the manager named Daniel surprised us all. We hung a huge picture of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada on the […]

This weekend ISKCON Los Angeles will be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the installation of the small deities Sri Sri Rukmini-Dvarakanath, and I will be driving to New Dvaraka on Sunday morning to join HH Badrinarayan Swami, HH Devamrita Swami, HH Radhanath Swami, and others in the festivities. Please do join us—in person or through […]

My dear Guru Maharaja, Please accept my humble obeisances at the dust of your divine lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Srila Gurudeva! It has been one year since you initiated me. I am amazed that one year has passed! There is so much that I can say about that day, […]

Fifty years ago, out of his causeless mercy, Srila Prabhupada accepted me as his initiated disciple and wrote me the following letter: My dear Giriraj, Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated July 2, 1969, sent along with your beads. I have chanted on them, and your initiated name […]

On the auspicious day of Jagannatha Ratha-yatra in Puri, two of Lord Chaitanya’s most confidential associates, Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami and Srila Sivananda Sena, left this world to return to the supreme abode. The inner moods of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, especially in Puri, were not easy to understand, and they were unknown to most devotees. […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.12 during a Skype call with disciples in Mumbai. “Everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord. Everyone should praise another’s service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaisnava thinking, Vaikuntha thinking. There may be rivalries […]

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, published […]

Kirtan with Madhava das at the ashram of HH Giriraj Swami.
Posted by Giriraj Swami on Sunday, June 23, 2019

A talk by Giriraj Swami on July 13, 2008, in Berkeley, California. This year Snan-yatra was on June 16, and Ratha-yatra will be on July 4. 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 […]

We will be having kirtan at my ashram in Carpinteria with Madhava, Radhika, Vrindavan Kirtan, and others on Sunday, June 23, at 5 p.m., followed by prasada. Please join us in person—otherwise the kirtan will be live streamed on Madhava Naidoo’s and my Facebook pages. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Yours in service, Giriraj […]

“Vyasa was the spiritual master of Sanjaya, and Sanjaya admits that it was by Vyasa’s mercy that he could understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means that one has to understand Krsna not directly but through the medium of the spiritual master. The spiritual master is the transparent medium, although it is true that […]

When my chanting is going well and I’m feeling some love for the holy names, the physical representation of the holy names, the maha-mantra, on my altar strikes me as extraordinarily beautiful and effulgent.
Hare Krishna.
May this find you well.
Yours …

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 […]

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

?
?

“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 […]