Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

Devotees shared their memories and realizations of Srila Prabhupada during the evening festivities.
Chaitanya Candra dasa
Mishra Bhagavan dasa
Chakri dasa
Sucharya dasi
Damodar Pandit dasa
Rupanuga dasa
Giriraj Swami and Damodar Pandit dasa

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.2.30 during the morning program. “We have to do things Srila Prabhupada’s way and therefore we need to know how Srila Prabhupada did things. Both from his instructions and from his personal example of how to do things. In this verse the same point is being made. The […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Antya-lila 14 during the morning program. “Lord Caitanya descended for the purpose of feeling ecstatic separation from Krishna and it is happening now in these pastimes and it is very intense—Radharani’s love for Krishna in separation. What Caitanya Mahaprabhu is experiencing in essence is what Srimati Radharani […]

“Lord Ramachandra wanted a devotee to rule Lanka, because only a devotee can rule in proper consciousness. Unless one is God conscious, one will be overwhelmed by the influences of raja-guna and tama-guna, which are manifest in lust and greed, and one’s mood will be to exploit. Ravana’s mood was to exploit by taking the property of […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.9, on Mother Yasoda’s binding Lord Krishna, which took place on the Dipavali day. “Our goal is to bind Krishna within our minds and in our hearts. When we chant japa we know how hard it is to bind Krishna—He keeps running away, like Krishna was running away from […]

“Sarva loka mahesvaram—Krishna is the supreme proprietor of all the planetary systems. That means this planet, our home, all our paraphernalia, our family members, our wealth, and our very selves. Nothing belongs to us—everything belongs to Krishna and therefore should be engaged in His service. But although we know this philosophically, we conditioned souls tend […]

“Service to Krishna includes service to His Name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, His paraphernalia, and His pure devotees. They are all contained within ‘Krishna.’ And Srila Rupa Gosvami says that any of the items of devotional service can be performed in relation to any of these categories. Krishna is never alone. The previous […]

“On this date forty years ago, I went up to Srila Prabhupada’s quarters in Juhu, Bombay, as usual, at 6 a.m. But very unusually, his door was locked. I had never come and found his door locked before. I knocked and waited, and eventually his secretary opened the door a little and spoke very quietly. He […]

Srila Prabhupada said that in every activity, the Vaisnava should pray to the previous acarya, “Kindly help me”—that the Vaisnava always thinks himself helpless and begs help from the previous acarya. And he gave the example of Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, the author of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, who at the end of every chapter prayed, sri-rupa-raghunatha-pade yara asa […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Nava-vraja-mahima by Sivarama Swami and Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava by Bhakti Vikasa Swami. “Krishna turned to Radha and declared, ‘Most beloved! Because your kunda is as dear to Me as You are, I will bathe in it daily. May Radha-kunda garner more fame in this world than my own beloved Syama-kunda.’ “Now […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and The Nectar of Instruction. “Why is Radha-kunda so exalted? The lake is so exalted because it belongs to Srimati Radharani, who is the most beloved object of Sri Krishna. Among all the gopis, She is the most beloved. Similarly, Her lake, Sri Radha-kunda, is also described by […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.9.18. “Everybody is offering Krishna prayers and worship, and He appreciates it and accepts it. But He enjoys more when He forgets that He is God and reciprocates with intimate, confidential associates who also forget that He is God. This is the special feature of Vrindavan. In His […]

“There were two factors that combined to allow Mother Yasoda to bind Lord Krishna: one was her hard labor, and the other was Krishna’s mercy. The acharyas explain that when these two elements combine — the devotee’s hard labor and Krishna’s mercy — Krishna allows Himself to be bound by His devotee.” Binding Lord Damodara

In Dallas devotees are distributing full sets of Srila Prabhupada’s books and installing them in people’s homes with a ceremony that includes chanting mantras and offering flowers (puspanjali). On October 10, I was fortunate to participate in the installation in the new house of Sarvajaya Madhava dasa and his family, and I spoke on the following verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.3.40): […]

“In the Vedanta Sutras, the Absolute Truth is defined as janmady asya yatah — that from which everything emanates. And Srimad-Bhagavatam begins with the same line: janmady asya yatah. So, what is that from which everything emanates? This is a very important question, because according to our origin, we can understand the purpose of our existence. Srimad-Bhagavatam explains in detail that […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.15.2 during the morning class. “Our acharyas say, krsnaika-sarana—one should take exclusive shelter of Krishna. If one has that one qualification, even if he is lacking in the other twenty-five, he is to be considered a devotee, or sadhu. And to criticize such a devotee is an offense: sadhu-ninda. […]

“Giriraj Swami spoke at the ‘Simple Living, High Thinking’ gathering in Houston, a regular program for seekers who want to learn about Krishna consciousness. After his talk—and many questions and answers—Giriraj Swami led an ecstatic kirtan during which everyone present danced very joyously.” —Nila Madhava dasa First Kirtan Talk Second Kirtan

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Bhagavad-gita 4.2 at a program at Krishna Priya dasi’s home. “The impersonal speculators say that in Sanskrit ‘Krishna’ means black, that black means unknown, and that unknown means unknowable—and then there is no Krishna: He’s gone; He’s completely disappeared! We want to avoid that. We want Krishna. Especially in […]

————————— Student: How was Krishna made? How did He come? Giriraj Swami: Listen very carefully, because this is a very difficult subject. There are two kinds of realities: material and spiritual. Material things have a beginning and an end, and spiritual things have no beginning and no end. A very important book describes Krishna as anadir […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 9.151, during the Sunday program. “Krishna is situated in everyone’s heart, and if one desires something, Krishna fulfills one’s desire. If the living entity by chance or fortune comes in contact with the Krishna consciousness movement and wishes to associate with that movement, Krishna, who is […]

“Serving you and learning how to serve you is all in the details of that service. Making sure that everything is done very properly. Making sure that everything is done very carefully. And being very conscious. Learning to serve you properly helps us become very conscious. And the whole Krishna consciousness process is meant to […]

Post by Palika Devi Dasi. Vyasa-puja Address by Giriraj Swami Appreciations: Rtadhvaja Swami (read) Bhakti Charu Swami (read) Guru Prasada Swami (read) Partha Sarathi Das Goswami (read) Nityananda dasa Syamasundara dasa Balarama dasa (TKG) Sarvabhauma dasa Rasikendra dasa Guru Bhakti dasi Visnupriya dasi Ananjay Chaitanya dasa Advaita Chandra dasa Aashish Pandya Abhay Charan Chaitanya Charan dasa […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.15 at Damodar’s birthday celebration. sa vai bhagavato raja pandaveyo maha-rathah bala-kridanakaih kridan krana-kridam ya adade TRANSLATION Maharaja Pariksit, the grandson of the Pandavas, was from his very childhood a great devotee of the Lord. Even while playing with dolls, he used to worship Lord Krsna by imitating […]

The Vyasa-puja celebration for Giriraj Swami will be held in Houston on Saturday, September 27, starting at 9:30 AM CDT  (7:30 AM PDT, 10:30 AM EDT). Devotees can watch live at: iskconhouston.org Schedule: Deity greeting/guru-puja 7:00 – 7:45 Srimad-Bhagavatam class 7:45 – 9:00 Breakfast 9:00 – 9:30 Greeting Maharaj/kirtan 9:30 – 9:45 Welcome 9:45 – 10:00 Footbathing […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from The Nectar of Instruction (Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Upadesamrta): ” ‘Diksa, or spiritual initiation, is explained in the Bhakti-sandarbha (868) by Srila Jiva Gosvami: divyam jnanam yato dadyat kuryat papasya sankshayam tasmad dikseti sa prokta desikais tattva-kovidaih “By diksa one gradually becomes disinterested in material enjoyment and gradually becomes interested in spiritual […]

Giriraj Swami spoke during the Sunday program in Tucson. “We got to Harvard Square and I let the devotees out the car. Then I suddenly realized. ‘I don’t know how to find them. I don’t know where their ashram is’. So I stopped the car, jumped out and caught up with the devotees. As the […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.23. “Srimati Radharani is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Radharani is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Krsna, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.4.18. “Anyone from any part of the world who becomes well conversant in the science of Krsna becomes a pure devotee and a spiritual master for the general mass of people and may reclaim them by purification of heart. Though a person be even the most sinful man, […]

The following is adapted from Google’s invitation to the talk: People usually try to avoid death—both the topic and the event. And why should we contemplate death and dying—how can we profit? As a friend of our speaker said shortly before his death, “When you get this close to death, you see that it is […]

Giriraj Swami and Vaisesika Dasa spoke and accepted disciples during the ceremony. “The spiritual master goes from place to place speaking about Krishna and in that way captures the soul. Then the person who becomes inspired by that spiritual master captures him by asking for initiation. So they capture each other in different ways. In […]

——————————- Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Bhagavad-gita 8.5. “Where does the atma [soul] go when it leaves the body? That is something that we all should consider, because we don’t know how long we will be in this body—100 years, 100 days, 100 hours, 100 minutes, 100 seconds—we don’t know how long we have. Sooner […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila, Chapter 4. “Krishna is saying here that He left the gopis to increase their love for Him. But the gopis did not accept His statement, because the gopis’ love for for Krishna is without limit. There is no question of Krishna’s increasing their love or eagerness, because […]

Today is Radhastami, the appearance day of Srimati Radharani, Lord Krishna’s pleasure-giving potency and eternal consort. Srila Prabhupada explains, “We pray to Radharani because She is the pleasure potency of Krsna. Krsna means ‘all-attractive.’ But Radharani is so great that She attracts Krsna. So today we should try to understand the position of Srimati Radharani […]

Devotees met in Srila Prabhupada’s quarters in the evening for an intimate sharing of Srila Prabhupada memories. “My parents invited a family friend who was a psychologist. She came in my room and began to inquire, ‘Tell me, Glenn, did you feel that your parents didn’t love you?’ ‘Which parents?’ I asked. ‘I have passed […]

“Srila Prabhupada said that even if the disciple cannot follow all the regulations strictly, simply by the spiritual master glancing favorably on him, the disciple can make spiritual advancement. The best offering we can give to Srila Prabhupada and the predecessor authorities is that we actually become advanced in Krishna consciousness, and become empowered to do […]

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.’ “The […]

After Srila Prabhupada left us on November 14, 1977, I came across a section in Srimad-Bhagavatam—Canto 4, Chapter 28—in which he explicitly discusses the disappearance of the spiritual master and how the disciple is to serve him—even in separation. The following paragraph summarizes the essence of his instructions: “The disciple and spiritual master are never […]

——————————— “That is the specific reason why Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears. Any incarnation of Vishnu could kill the demons, deliver the devotees, and re-establish the principles of dharma, but only Krishna can show us the beautiful life that awaits us if we join Him in intimate love in Vrindavan. Therefore Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.33.36) says: anugrahaya […]

Today we are coming together to celebrate Sri Krishna Janmastami, the appearance of Lord Krishna in the material world. On special occasions such as this—we’ll soon be celebrating the pastime of Mother Yasoda binding Krishna with ropes, and then Krishna lifting Govardhana Hill—unless we know who Krishna is, we won’t know what to make of […]