Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

—————— Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Bhagavad-gita 9.13 on the morning after Radhasthami. “In this verse the description of the mahatma is clearly given. The first sign of the mahatma is that he is already situated in the divine nature. He is not under the control of material nature. And how is this effected? […]

Sri Radhastami A Talk by Giriraj Swami, August 30, 2009, San Diego For the most auspicious celebration of Sri Radhastami, we read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three: “Pure Devotional Service.” TEXT 23 jivan chavo bhagavatanghri-renum na jatu martyo ’bhilabheta yas tu sri-visnu-padya manujas tulasyah svasan chavo yas tu na veda gandham TRANSLATION The person who has […]

Srila Prabhupada disciples’ offerings ISV Devotees’ offerings Part 1 ISV Devotees’ offerings Part 2

For three days, many wonderful devotees and friends celebrated Sri Krishna Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja at ISKCON of Silicon Valley, in Mountain View, California, and after the festivities on the last day Kesava Bharati Dasa Goswami, Rtadhvaja Swami, Vaisesika Prabhu, and I met at my hosts’ house in Menlo Park. For several hours we […]

Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON after Fifty Years Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Dhananjaya Dasa told me that at his initiation Srila Prabhupada said, “Dhananjaya means ‘winner of wealth,’” and added, moving his arms all around, “Money is flying in all directions—you simply have to learn the art of catching it.” The next morning, Dhananjaya raised a question […]

———- Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagvatam 10.2.31 for the morning class on Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja day. “In Srila Prabhupada’s initiation letter to me he wrote, ‘I marked it in your person when I was in Boston, and I prayed to Krishna that this good soul may be aware of the importance of Krishna consciousness.’ […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.33.36 at Lord Krishna’s Appearance Day festival. “When we hear these stories, we should think, ‘Krishna is so kind to His devotees.’ Even in the midst of the worst calamity, if you just take shelter of Krishna — just surrender to Krishna — He will protect you.  ‘I could have […]

————————- “Mrs. Nair’s husband died and eventually she had a a change of heart. She surrendered to Srila Prabhupada and said. ‘I never agreed with what my husband was doing—I was very upset.’ Mr. Sethi met her and conveyed what she had said to Srila Prabhupada and he said. ‘It’s alright. In the morning if you […]

“Balarama is considered the original spiritual master because he performs two functions that are performed by the spiritual master. One is that He serves Krishna, and the other is that He gives knowledge of Krishna. In His desire to serve Krishna he wants to serve Krishna in every possible way. In terms of Rasa, or […]

Today is Balarama Purnima, the appearance day of Lord Balarama, the first expansion of Lord Krishna, who plays as Krishna’s older brother. Listening to Sri Caitanya-bhagavata this morning, I happened to hear a description of Lord Chaitanya’s special affinity for the mood of Lord Balarama: “Every day, Lord Chaitanya, accompanied by Lord Nityananda, visited various Vaishnava’s homes and enacted transcendental […]

07.26.16, Kishori Youth Ministry performance in Carpinteria from Derek Carter on Vimeo. ____________ Giriraj Swami spoke to the touring devotees about his first meeting with Srila Prabhupada and his early days in the Hare Krishna movement. Download (Right click ‘Save As’) Meeting With the Kishori Youth Ministry

Giriraj Swami met with guests and received gifts from devotees in Mauritius on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima.

Today, Sri Guru-purnima, or Vyasa-purnima, is the divine disappearance day of Srila Sanatana Gosvami, the eldest of the Six Gosvamis of Vrndavana. The authorized poet Sri Kavi-karnapura, in his book Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka (9.34, 35, 38), quoted in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya 24.348–350), tells how Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu blessed Sanatana Gosvami with His specific mercy. gaudendrasya sabha-vibhusana-manis tyaktva […]

A talk by Giriraj Swami on Sivananda Sena’s and Svarupa Damodara Gosvami’s Disappearance Day, June 25, 1998, Los Angeles. On the auspicious day of Jagannatha Ratha-yatra in Puri, two of Lord Caitanya’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 Caitanya Mahaprabhu, […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Caitanya Bhagavata on the occasion of Gundica Marjana and the disappearance of Sri Gadadhara Pandita and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. “After taking darshan of Lord Jagannatha with great bliss, Lord Nityananda went to see Gadadhara Pandit at Tota Gopintha temple. Gadadhara and Nityananda loved each other very much. There, seeing the three-fold bending form […]

Srivasa Pandita 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, Krsna came as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Balarama came as Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Similarly, Maha-visnu appeared as Advaita Acarya, Srimati Radharani as Gadadhara Pandita, and Narada Muni as Srivasa Pandita. […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.30.35 during a Skype conversation with devotees in Mumbai. “Translation: Whenever pure topics of the transcendental world are discussed, the members of the audience forget all kinds of material hankerings, at least for the time being. Not only that, but they are no longer envious of one another, nor […]

Today Hema Malini, the famed performer from India, visited the ISKCON Los Angeles temple, and I was reminded of when she and I were together on the stage of the ISKCON auditorium in Juhu, Mumbai. It was December, during the book-distribution marathon, and after the performance I asked the audience to come forward to purchase […]

“Sometimes we would discuss something together and at times he was clearly right but other times I would feel that I saw something that he didn’t see and he would realize that I had. But, I did have faith in him because it happened again and again that in the morning he would chant and reflect […]

His Holiness Radhanath Swami began the launch of his new book, The Journey Within, at the ISKCON Dallas temple on May 16, 2016. The following exchange took place toward the end of the event. Radhanath Swami: When I was with His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja this past September, I told him, “I really don’t know […]

Today, on Father’s Day, some devotees thought of me and wrote to me. I thought of Srila Prabhupada and a letter he wrote to a disciple: “You have accepted me as father, so I have also accepted you as my dear and real son. Relationship of father and son on spiritual platform is real and […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Bhagavad-gita 3.10 at a home program. “‘In the Age of Kali, the sankirtana-yajna (the chanting of the names of God) is recommended by the Vedic scriptures, and this transcendental system was introduced by Lord Caitanya for the deliverance of all men in this age. Sankirtana-yajna and Krsna consciousness go well […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.9. “If the Krsna consciousness movement spreads all over the world, and if by the grace of Krsna everyone accepts it, the thinking of envious people will change. Everyone will think of the welfare of others. Therefore Prahlada Maharaja prays, sivam mitho dhiya. In material activities, everyone is […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.17. “A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity. But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.22. “Only attention engaged in the service of the Lord, especially in dressing and decorating the temple, accompanied by musical kirtan and spiritual instructions from scriptures, can save the common man from the hellish cinema attractions and rubbish sex-songs broadcast everywhere by radios. If one is unable to maintain […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Antya-lila 8. “Regarding the offense—to not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy names and to maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions on this matter—I once asked Bhurijan prabhu what the connection was. He explained that you hold onto material attachments because you don’t have […]

Giriraj Swami and Indradymna Swami accepted disciples during the Sadhu Sanga Retreat.  

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-lila 22.83. “krsna-bhakti-janma-mula haya ‘sadhu-sanga’ krsna-prema janme, tenho punah mukhya anga Translation: “The root cause of devotional service to Lord Krishna is association with advanced devotees. Even when one’s dormant love for Krishna awakens, association with devotees is still most essential. (Cc Madhya 22.83) “Sacinandana Swami was making the point that if […]

Giriraj Swami explained the meaning and Badaharidas prabhu sang the bhajan by Locana Dasa Thakura. The two Lords, Nitai-Gauracandra, are very merciful. They are the essence of all incarnations. The specific significance of these incarnations is that They introduced a process of chanting and dancing that is simply joyful. My dear brother, I request that you just worship Lord […]

Giriraj read and spoke from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya 8. Although Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya were embracing in ecstasy, the Lord restrained His transcendental emotions upon seeing the outsider brahmanas. (Cc Madhya 8 purport) “In this verse the word ‘vijitiya’ appears which means ‘outsider’. And, opposed to that is ‘sajitiya‘. Because the brahmanas were vijitiya […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Bhagavad-gita 8.28. “One who has a little faith in Bhagavad-gita should learn Bhagavad-gita from a devotee, because in the beginning of the Fourth Chapter it is stated clearly that Bhagavad-gita can be understood only by devotees; no one else can perfectly understand the purpose of Bhagavad-gita. One should therefore […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.6.1 during the Sunday Love Fest. “Prahlada Maharaja said: One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life—in other words, from the tender age of childhood—to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human […]

Radhanatha Swami and Giriraj Swami spoke during the evening program. “Prahlad Maharaja said. ‘I had fallen in a blind well full of snakes following the general populace. But my Spiritual master, Narada Muni, save me. Therefore my first duty is to serve him. How could I give up his service?’ Prahlad was saying this to […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.7.14 “When Krishna comes home from the pasturing grounds in the late afternoon, his body is covered in the dust from the hooves of the cows and calves as they walk before him. The residents of Vrindavan see that Krishna’s beauty is enhanced by the dust and beads of […]

“Prahlad Maharaja prayed to Lord Nrsimhadeva that he forgive his father all his horrible activities and liberate him. This shows the saintly nature of a pure devotee—he is a friend to everyone. He doesn’t become the enemy of his enemy but he is a friend even to his enemy. Lord Nrsimhadeva replied. ‘Because of your taking […]

Giriraj Swami participated in the occasion in Mumbai via Skype. “It is so wonderful that Mother Arca Vigraha had it in her heart to give her house in Vrindavan to Guru Maharaja. She knew that she was not going to live for too long so when she built that house, in her heart she built it for […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Bhagavad-gita 9.3 during the Sunday program in Dallas. “Once, I was at airport in America with Srila Prabhupada when a reporter asked him. ‘What does this chanting achieve?’ Srila Prabhupada smiled so broadly—just this oceanic, effulgent smile. He looked at the reporter and said. ‘Chanting accomplishes chanting.’ There is nothing […]

Giriraj Swami participated in the occasion in Durban via Skype. “Mother Arca Vigraha had about her a very urgent sense to serve Lord Krishna, Srila Prabhupada, her spiritual master, and all the vaisnavas. And, because she was so urgent and eager, Krishna’s mercy flowed to her especially at the final stages of her life.” —Swarup Damodar […]