Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

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 […]

We have gathered on a most auspicious day. Srivasa Thakura is one of the members of the Panca-tattva. He lived in Navadvipa-dhama in Mayapur, near the residence of Jagannatha Misra and Sacidevi, where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared. Later, when Lord Chaitanya began the sankirtana movement in Navadvipa-dhama, He and His other most confidential associates would […]

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Presentation by Vaisesika Dasa
Talk by Giriraj Swami

 
Presentation by Vaisesika Das
Posted by Fan The Spark on Saturday, March 23, 2019

 
Children’s Drama
Posted by Fan The Spark on Saturday, March 23, 2019

 
Special Talk by His Holiness Giriraja Swami
Posted by Fan The Spark …

 

 

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Play or download audio.
Gaura-purnima, Los Angeles (Right-click to download)

Today we are celebrating the appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna, who descended in the age of Kali in the role of a devotee. He appeared on what we now call Gaura-purnima, in the evening of the full moon day in the month of Phalguna. At the time, there was […]

Today is the disappearance day of Sri Madhavendra Puri, who appears in the line of disciplic succession as the grand spiritual master of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Madhavendra Puri’s disciple Isvara Puri was accepted by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as His spiritual master. Sri Madhavendra Puri is very important for us, and today we shall read about his […]

While chanting japa this morning, I thought of Srila Rupa Gosvami’s verse about the holy name: tunde tandavini ratim vitanute tundavali-labdhaye   karna-kroda-kadambini ghatayate karnarbudebhyah sprham cetah-prangana-sangini vijayate sarvendriyanam krtim   no jane janita kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varna-dvayi “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krs-na’ have produced. When the holy name […]

Today is Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja’s disappearance day. He comes in the Gaudiya Vaishnava disciplic succession after Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. He was a renounced ascetic, fully engaged in chanting the holy names of Krishna and meditating on His pastimes. For some time, he made his residence at Surya-kunda in […]

Our deity of Sri Gopisvara Mahadeva at our ashram today, Siva-ratri. In his Sankalpa-kalpadruma (103) Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura prays: vrndavanavani-pate jaya soma soma-   maule sanandana-sanatana-naradedya gopisvara vraja-vilasi-yuganghri-padme   prema prayaccha nirupadhi namo namaste “O gatekeeper of Vrindavan! O Soma, all glories to you! O you whose forehead is decorated with the moon (soma), […]

By Nikunja Vilasini Dasi Whether it is 3 a.m. in New York, 6 a.m. in California, 4 p.m. in South Africa, or 7:30 p.m. in India, devotees all over the globe can connect with Giriraj Swami at the same time every day to chant the holy names together. Gone are the days when disciples could […]

Today is Siva-ratri. Vaishnavas generally do not celebrate Siva-ratri, and to begin, I will explain why, with reference to the Bhagavad-gita. We read from Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Chapter 7, “Knowledge of the Absolute,” text 23. antavat tu phalam tesam   tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam devan deva-yajo yanti   mad-bhakta yanti mam api TRANSLATION Men of […]

Today is the disappearance day of Sri Isvara Puri. He was such a perfect disciple of Sri Madhavendra Puri that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Krishna Himself, was pleased to accept Isvara Puri as his spiritual master. Later, Lord Chaitanya visited Isvara Puri’s birthplace at Kumara-hatta and collected some earth from the birth site, which He […]

“We will not be able to chant purely as long as we are absorbed in material thoughts. How can we chant Krishna’s name if we are not inclined to serve Him? A person interested in sense gratification, who is fond of cheating and who is a hypocrite, can never chant the holy name. Those who […]

Today is the appearance day of Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. He was very kind, but also very strict. He said of himself, “I am not only a proofreader of the press; I am a proofreader of men—I see their faults and try to correct them. I am also a proofreader of […]

Today is the appearance day Srila Narottama dasa Thakura, of whom Srila Prabhupada said, He was “a great acharya of the Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya. He has written many songs about the Vaishnava philosophy, and they are approved as completely corresponding with Vedic instructions.  .  .  . So, we should relish the instruction of Narottama dasa […]

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We welcome you to the most auspicious observance of Sri Nityananda-trayodasi, the appearance day of Lord Nityananda Balarama. We shall read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, the authorized biography of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates, Adi-lila, Chapter 5: “The Glories of Lord Nityananda Balarama.” TEXT 1 vande ’nantadbhutaisvaryam   sri-nityanandam isvaram yasyecchaya tat-svarupam   ajnenapi nirupyate TRANSLATION […]

Today is Varaha-dvadasi, Lord Varaha’s appearance day. Srila Prabhupada spoke on this occasion in Los Angeles on February 18, 1970: “Today is the incarnation day of Lord Krishna’s appearing as the Boar. He lifted the world when it was submerged within the water of Garbhodaka Ocean. The universe which we are seeing is only half. […]

Today, February 14, Saint Valentine’s Day, I was struck when Srila Prabhupada, at the conclusion of his class on Sri Isopanisad, spoke about love—the love that Krishna wants and the love that will satisfy us: “Any religion, it doesn’t matter whether Hindu religion, Muslim religion, Christian religion—if you are developing love of God, then you […]

Today is the appearance anniversary of Sripada Ramanujacharya, the principal acharya in the Sri, or Lakshmi, sampradaya. Srila Prabhupada wrote that “We find great shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Ramanujacharya because his lotus feet are the strongest fort to combat the Mayavadi philosophy.” (letter 22.11.1974) And in the early days of ISKCON in […]

To honor Sri Advaita Acharya’s  appearance day, we present Srila Prabhupada’s talk about him in Mayapur on April 6, 1975. advaitam harinadvaitad   acaryam bhakti-samsanat bhaktavataram isam tam   advaita acaryam asraye “Because He is nondifferent from Hari, the Supreme Lord, He is called Advaita, and because He propagates the cult of devotion, He is […]

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Giriraj Swami and Rtadhvaja Swami spoke on the subject of life’s final exam during the Sunday Feast Program in Houston. In this verse the importance of Krsna consciousness is stressed. Anyone who quits his body in Krsna consciousness is at once transferred to the transcendental nature of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is the […]