Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

A few evenings ago HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja and I gave class together at ISKCON Juhu. During the questions and answers, a devotee asked, “How can I recognize a pure devotee?” and in response I quoted Srila Prabhupada’s reply to a letter from Tusta Krishna dasa asking about pure devotees: “We advise everyone to address […]

For Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s appearance day, I thought to read a verse and purport about him from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten, “The Branches of the Caitanya Tree”: TEXT 105 sri gopala bhatta eka sakha sarvottama rupa-sanatana-sange yanra prema-alapana TRANSLATION Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches […]

 

 

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten describes the branches of the tree named Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. TEXT 1 sri-caitanya-padambhoja-   madhupebhyo namo namah kathancid asrayad yesam   svapi tad-gandha-bhag bhavet TRANSLATION Let me repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto the beelike devotees who always taste the honey of the lotus feet of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If even […]

Some fifty years ago in Bombay, when I first began to meet people to encourage them to support ISKCON, I was guided by the fourth verse of Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Upadesamrta, kindly explained by Srila Prabhupada. It instructed me to reciprocate with the people whom I met in exchanges of love. The more care and […]

We are entering the New Year, 2024, and on such occasions we take stock of what and how we did in the previous year and what we want to do in the next. Studies have shown, and probably many of us have experienced, that most New Year’s resolutions are broken during the first week. Still […]

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, is my grand spiritual master, but I feel that I never really knew him very well until I read his biography Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, by my godbrother Bhakti Vikasa Swami. Many of the quotes and references below come from that work.  We are all here by the […]

Fifty-four years ago, on December 26, 1969, in Boston, Srila Prabhupada awarded me second initiation. He said, “Sucih means purified. And another meaning of is brahman. A brahman means purified. Those who are going to be sacred-threaded today should remember that they are being accepted as sucih, as brahman. After chanting for six months or […]

A Vaishnava, a pure devotee of the Lord, is unhappy to see the suffering of others. Therefore, Lord Jesus Christ agreed to be crucified—to free others from their suffering. But his followers are often so unfaithful that they have decided, “Let Christ suffer for us, and we’ll go on committing sin.” They love Christ, but […]

“Now these Christmas holidays have begun in your country. Throughout the whole month of December you’ll observe nice festivities. Why? It began with God consciousness. Jesus Christ came to give you God consciousness, and in relation to him these festivities are going on. It may have degraded into another form, but the beginning was God […]

Gita Jayanti is the day on which Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna. The Gita is also known as the Gitopanisad and is considered one of the Upanisads. The title Bhagavad-gita is sometimes translated as “The Song of God.” Gita means “song.” God, Krishna, is so sublime that whatever He speaks is music and […]

There is so much to be said about Srimati Yamuna-devi dasi. In October of 1970 I was one of a group of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples from America going to join him in India. On the way, we stopped in Brussels, and it was there, in an apartment, that I first met Yamuna-devi—and Malati and Syamasundara […]

Today is Odana-sasti, the date on which Lord Jagannatha is given a winter shawl. One year when Lord Chaitanya and His associates celebrated this festival in Puri, Pundarika Vidyanidhi, who is Vrsabhanu Maharaja, Srimati Radharani’s father in krsna-lila, received some special mercy. His experience is instructive for us all. Srila Prabhupada explains, “At the beginning […]

In the West, this is the holiday season, with both Christmas and Hanukkah. As Srila Prabhupada explained, the Lord comes to this world to enlighten people with transcendental knowledge. Sometimes He comes personally, and sometimes He sends His son or His prophet or His representative, but they all come with the same message. They may […]

My dear devotees, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. In a letter to me dated December 1971, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “Go on increasing books and go on increasing my pleasure.” December is a special opportunity to focus on Srila Prabhupada’s desire that we distribute books—and thus increase his pleasure. As he […]

I will never forget the moment when I heard that George Harrison had passed away, one week after Thanksgiving in 2001. My strong feelings of separation surprised me—and made me think how important and dear George must have been to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Krishna. And I remembered my own little experience with him. In […]

In the first verse of the Bhagavad-gita, the low-minded king Dhrtarastra asks his secretary, “O Sanjaya, after my sons and the sons of Pandu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, desiring to fight, what did they do?” Kim akurvata: “What did they do?” Srila Prabhupada says that this is a foolish question. The […]

According to Vrinda-kunda Baba, Srimati Vrindadevi appeared on the full-moon night at the end of Kartik, or Damodara. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, in Sri Vrndadevi-astaka (6-8), glorifies her: rasabhilaso vasatis ca vrnda- vane tvad-isanghri-saroja-seva labhya ca pumsam krpaya tavaiva vrnde namas te caranaravindam “By your mercy, people attain residence in Vrindavan, the desire to serve […]