Author Archives: H.H. Giriraj Swami

Today is Sita-navami, the appearance day of Srimati Sitadevi, the eternal consort of Lord Ramachandra. She appeared as the daughter of King Janaka, one of the twelve mahajanas, great authorities in Krishna consciousness, and thus one of her names is Janaki. In Valmiki’s Ramayana, Sita is said to have been discovered in a furrow in a ploughed […]

Today is a most auspicious occasion. Mother Arca-vigraha was a very special devotee, and she really gave everything to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and the devotees. I think of the verse akamah sarva-kamo va, moksa-kama udara-dhih/ tivrena bhakti-yogena, yajeta purusam param, that akamah, whether one has no desires, sarva-kamo, or is full of desires, moksa-kama, […]

 

Today being 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, […]

The day known as Akshaya-tritiya occurs on the third day (tritiya) of the waxing moon in the month of Vaisakha. Every second of this blessed day is completely auspicious, and so there is no consideration of any one muhurta, time period, being better than another. Akshaya means “inexhaustible”; anything a person undertakes on the day […]

 

Today is the most auspicious occasion of Sri Gadadhara Pandita’s appearance day. As many of you know, Lord Chaitanya is Krishna Himself in the role of His own devotee. He is Krishna, but with the complexion and in the mood of Srimati Radharani. There are different purposes for the Lord’s advent. The internal reason for […]

 

Today is Srila Vrindavan dasa Thakura’s disappearance day. Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 11.55) states, “Srila Vyasadeva described the pastimes of Krsna in Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Vyas a of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was Vrndavana dasa.” In his purport Srila Prabhupada elaborates: “Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura was an incarnation of Vedavyasa and also a friendly cowherd boy named Kusumapida in krsna-lila. In […]

For Sri Hanuman Jayanti, I quote Sri Prahlada’s glorification of Hanuman from Sri Brhad-bhagavatamrta (1.4.40–52): “Hanuman is much more fortunate. For many thousands of years he has enjoyed serving the Lord constantly, without obstruction. “He is the most powerful person. When he was just a child, the demigods favored him with several wonderful benedictions. Thus […]

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 […]

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, as stated in a room conversation in Bombay, August 16, 1976. A devotee asked, “Even nitya-siddha has guru . . . even the liberated soul, nitya-siddha?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Liberated […]

This verse is quoted in Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Sri Padyavali (151): ramo nama babhuva hum tad-abala siteti hum tam pitur vaca pancavati-vane viharatas tasyharad ravanah | nidrartham janaki-katham iti harer hum-karatah srnvatah saumitre kva dhanur dhanur dhanur iti vyagra girah pantu nah || [Mother Yasoda is telling Sri Krishna a story:] “There was once a […]

We read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: “Scheduled Incarnations.” TEXT 23 asmat-prasada-sumukhah kalaya kalesa   iksvaku-vamsa avatirya guror nidese tisthan vanam sa-dayitanuja avivesa   yasmin virudhya dasa-kandhara artim arcchat TRANSLATION Due to His causeless mercy upon all living entities within the universe, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His plenary extensions, appeared in […]

Today is the appearance anniversary of Sripada Ramanujacharya, the principal acharya in the Sri, or Lakshmi, sampradaya. Srila Prabhupada wrote, “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 India, […]

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

Giriraj Swami begins at about 1:30.

My dear Kadamba Kanana Swami Maharaja, Please accept my prostrated obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. And all glories to your wonderful service to him. Srila Prabhupada said that when a Vaishnava departs, we feel simultaneously happy and sad. We feel happy because we know that the Vaishnava has gone to […]

Today we continue our celebration of 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 […]

We welcome you to the most auspicious celebration of Sri Gaura-purnima, the appearance day of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna Chaitanya. According to Vedic scriptures, the Absolute Truth is realized in three features: Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan. Impersonalist speculators want to merge and become one with God, one with t he impersonal brahmajyoti, which […]

Today is the auspicious disappearance day of Sri Madhavendra Puri, the grand spiritual master of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.  Madhavendra Puri’s disciple Isvara Puri was accepted by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as His spiritual master. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is Himself the origin of all knowledge—all perfect, Vedic knowledge—and He had no need […]

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

Today is Shiva-ratri. Vaishnavas generally do not celebrate Shiva-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 him 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 kept […]

“We are giving Krishna consciousness—that is loving, real loving. We are giving [people] eternal life, eternal bliss. Unless we love them, why we are taking so much trouble? The preacher must love the people. Otherwise, why he is taking? He can do it for himself at home. Why he is taking so much trouble? Why […]

Today, February 14, , 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 are perfect in […]