Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.47.64-66 during the morning program at the ISKCON Dallas temple. “Although the gopis are the most worshipable devotees in existence, they worshipped Uddhava as a dear friend of Krishna’s. So, when one develops such purity of heart, although one is most exalted, one feels oneself to be ordinary […]

——————————- Giriraj Swami and Giridhari Swami read and spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.13.60 during a home program in Dallas. “The temple is supposed to be Vaikuntha, but it is not automatic. We have to have the Vaikuntha mood. Srila Prabhupada described the Vaikuntha mood in different ways at different times. When I joined the temple in Boston […]

“If we couldn’t go to the temple, if we couldn’t have darshan of the deities, if you couldn’t hear from qualified teachers, if you couldn’t chant in kirtan together—that would be pretty difficult, would it not? Sometimes we take these things for granted. I think the only way to not fall into that trap is […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.23 during the Sunday festival in Houston. “In other words, Lord Sri Krishna is the property of His pure unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Krishna to another devotee; Krishna is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah, or […]

“A gentleman came to Srila Prabhupada and said, ‘Swamiji, Swamiji, please save me! Only you can save me!’And Prabhupada replied, ‘I cannot save you; you have to save yourself. But I can give you the method by which you can save yourself.’ He gives us the instructions, and he prays for us, but we have […]

The Vyasa-puja celebration started around 9:30AM and ended around 5PM. To begin, Giriraj Swami was greeted at the sannyasa quarters by a kirtan party, which escorted him to the temple. There Giriraj Swami offered a gift to the Deities, garlanded Srila Prabhupada and Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, and then honored his godbrothers Giridhari Swami Maharaj, […]

Giriraj Swami spoke on Visvarupa-mahotsava, the day which Lord Chaitanya’s older brother Visvarupa accepted sannyasa and the date on which Srila Prabhupada also accepted the renounced order of life. Giriraj Swami was joined by Giridhari Swami, Kesava Bharati Dasa Goswami, and Rtadhvaja Swami. “Srila Prabhupada saw that his Guru Maharaja was forcing him to take […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Chapter 11. prabhu kahe, – ‘kon vyadhi, kaha ta’ nirnaya?’ tenho kahe, – ‘sankhya-kirtana na puraya’ TRANSLATION Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu further inquired from Haridasa, “Can you ascertain what your disease is?” Haridasa Thakura replied, “My disease is that I cannot complete my rounds.” PURPORT If one […]

“It’s very important to understand the mission and the instructions of the spiritual master. They include both chanting and hearing about Krishna and rendering practical service to the cause. There was one sannyasi in Vrindavan who complained to Srila Prabhupada that he was weary of having to deal with the management and construction—procure cement, count the […]

Today marks the 175th anniversary of the birth—the appearance—of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, “the pioneer of the program for benedicting the entire world with Krishna consciousness.” To honor the occasion, I have written a short piece about “Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Prabhupada.” We pray for their continued guidance and mercy. “Dedicated to the sacred service […]

Radhastami evening was a continuous flow of nectar—carrying Radharani in procession to the fire sacrifice, puspanjali, abhishek, arati, and class, all accompanied by rousing kirtan—the devotees were in ecstasy. “Srimati Radharani is so transcendentally attractive that She attracts even Krishna, the attractor of Cupid. Therefore Her name is Madana Mohana Mohini—the attractor of the attractor of Cupid. […]

______________________________________________________________________ “Srimati Radharani may be in the most intense throws of ecstasy in separation from Krishna, but still She thinks of the welfare of others. For us fallen souls in the material world Her compassion is vey important because we are in need of mercy, and to the extent that we cry out to Her […]

The Saturday after Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja, more first and second generation devotees had the opportunity to offer homages to Srila Prabhupada.

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.2.31 for the continuation of Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja celebration, on Saturday morning. “One could argue that the devotee should be equal to all. But Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that if we examine the qualities of the preacher, the intermediate devotee, we find that he makes distinctions: he gives his […]

—————————————————————————————– “I think of the many gifts Srila Prabhupada gave us: the holy name, the Srimad-Bhagavatam and other scriptures, the temples and deities — but I am also thinking now of the association of devotees, especially close friends. The association of peers is so important. One devotee commented that when you are in a position of […]

—————— 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 […]

Srila Prabhupada, Spiritual Revolutionary  My dear Srila Prabhupada, Please accept my prostrated obeisances in the dust of your divine lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace. Srila Prabhupada, who can fathom your greatness, your accomplishments, your unbounded causeless mercy and love? In a letter to a sympathizer in India in 1966, you wrote of […]

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.7.26 during the Sunday evening program in New Dvaraka. “Bal Yogeshwar, Guru Maharaji, fell in love with his American secretary and married her, which very much upset his mother in India. Thereafter there was a full color picture on the cover of The Illustrated Weekly of India — a very famous […]

On Lord Balarama’s appearance day, Giriraj Swami initiated Bhakta Shawn into Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual family, giving him the name Shyama Chandra Dasa. This sweet, intimate ceremony took place at the home of Bhrigupati Prabhu and Mother Chandravali. Giriraj Swami, Rtadhvaja Swami, and Bhrigupati Prabhu spoke at the ceremony. “Now we have come to this stage, […]

TRANSLATION [Krishna said to Balarama:] O original personality, these bees must all be great sages and most elevated devotees of Yours, for they are worshiping You by following You along the path and chanting Your glories, which are themselves a holy place for the entire world. Though You have disguised Yourself within this forest, O […]

“To be empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one has to qualify himself. This means that one must engage twenty-four hours daily in the loving devotional service of the Lord. The material position of a devotee doesn’t matter, because devotional service is not dependent on material considerations. In his earlier life, Srila Rupa Gosvami […]

Giriraj Swami at the Question and Answer Tent at the Ratha-yatra festival. “Material wealth may not be the best thing for you. What people really want is happiness. It is well documented that wealth does not bring an increase in happiness. Unless you are really poor — then a little increase to bring you to the […]

A Skype call with devotees in Mumbai. “Srila Prabhupada gave the example of the swan: in a mixture of milk and water, the swan can take out the milk. Similarly, in the material world there is a mixture of Maya and Krishna. We have to extract the Krishna part and leave the Maya part. That […]

A Skype call with devotees in Mauritius. “The idea with the mitra system is that everyone should have a friend in Krishna consciousness, someone to whom one can reveal one’s mind. Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Upadesamrita discusses priti-laksana — the symptoms of love shared between devotees. And Srila Prabhupada explains that ‘the life of the Krsna […]

——————————————————————————————————— “One should practice bhakti-yoga with firm determination and faith and not be disturbed if there is a little delay in achieving the desired goal. In Srila Prabhupada’s commentary he quotes the verse: utsahan niscayad dhairyat tat-tat-karma-pravartanat sanga-tyagat sato vritteh shadbhir bhaktih prasidhyati We have to be enthusiastic, and we have to be determined and […]

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

“Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura shows us extraordinary determination. We see that even in the life of such a great devotee, empowered with Gaura shakti, still the material world is no rose garden — although we long for it to be so. We hope, in our neophyte mentality, that by our performing bhakti Krishna will make the material world nice. It seems […]

“Mukunda and his wife, Janaki, were actually planning to go to India. It occurred to Mukunda that maybe he should ask the Swami whether or not there was something he could do for him before he went. The answer was, ‘Since you are going to the West coast, why don’t you see if you can […]

“All the time we would joke when people would come and not fit into that tiny temple room. ‘Look, we fit three thousand people in here before, so don’t complain, just move in a little closer.’ At least five times during every lecture we would have to say, ‘Everyone please move up.’ And then Krishna […]

“As he’d done when we’d walked the streets of New York City, he instructed me how to walk the paths of Raman Reti—how to deal with the monkeys. First, you carry a stick with you. We grew up in kind of tough neighborhoods. He sometimes said that the choice for him of which way to walk home […]

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Kirtan led by Sarvatma Dasa
Nrsimha Prayers led by Giriraj Swami

“If someone approaches you and offers to serve you in your home and in your business and wants nothing in return — just wants to make you happy — then you will naturally feel inclined toward that person. ‘This is a sign of your sincere devotion.’ With God it is the same way. If you approach God with no […]

Giriraj Swami and Indradymna Swami awarded first and second initiation to devotees prior to the Panihati festival at the Laguna Beach temple on Friday. During the ceremony, Giriraj Swami initiated Srila Tamal Krishna Goswami’s brother and sister-in-law, Bhakta Carl and Bhaktin Stella Herzig, as well as Saroj Wadehra. Now  Saroj will be known as Tulasi Manjari dasi, Stella as Shraddhanjali dasi, […]

—————————————————————————————————————— Bhaktin Mira, in Pringle Bay, South Africa, was initiated by Giriraj Swami by Skype — and given the sweet spiritual name Madhurika dasi. “Today’s ceremony is especially significant because you [Bhaktin Mira] have waited so long and prepared yourself for so many years before coming to the stage of accepting initiation. And because you have […]

“Indradyumna Swami spoke on the bhakti movement of Lord Chaitanya at Bhakti Yoga Shala in Los Angeles. After the talk, as the kirtana built and the ecstasy rose and almost everyone in the room was dancing, I thought, “Maharaja is not an ordinary person; I should take full advantage of every moment I have with him—and other such great […]

Diary of a Traveling Monk, Volume 13, Chapter 12 Anatoli Fedorovich Pinyayev (Ananta-santi dasa) was the first Soviet Hare Krsna devotee. Because of his active preaching throughout the USSR and because of the spiritual influence he had on many people, he was subjected to severe persecution for five and a half years at the hands […]

Bhakti Charu Swami spoke at New Dwaraka Dhama. “So many young Americans came forward to help Srila Prabhupada. Obviously they were somehow previously related to him from their past lives. It was not just a chance happening. One devotee, in  a humble mood, told Srila Prabhupada, ‘Before meeting you I was so fallen, so engrossed in all kinds […]