Author Archives: H.H. Indradyumna Swami

Yesterday we reached Kagbeni, our final destination on the Kali Gandhaki river. Tibet is only a few hours away. Kagbeni is over 9,000 feet above sea level so there is little, if any, vegetation or trees. Upon arriving in the village we began preparations to immerse Bimal Prasad’s ashes in the river the next morning.

Yesterday we drove 7 hours from Pokhara to Tatopani. As we gradually entered the mountainous area the scenery was stunning. This was the very route that Gopal Bhatta Goswami walked on his way through Nepal 500 years ago in his search for salagrama-sila…

The first leg of our journey in Nepal took us from ISKCON’s temple in Kathmandu, to Pokhara in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The same personalities who appeared 5000 years ago in their original female forms as gopis, sakhis, and manjaris in Lord Krsna’s pastimes appeared 500 years ago in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes in male forms.

We spent the first day of our travels in Nepal in Kathmandu in order to acclimatise for the higher altitudes we’ll reach near the Tibetan plateau later this week. We didn’t waste a moment though, for within a couple of hours we were out on harinam samkirtan with the local ISKCON devotees, chanting and dancing […]

Pictured here is the Temple of Vedic Planatarium, under construction. Before entering Sridham Mayapura we visited the sacred home of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, from where he had a vision of a magnificent temple appearing one day in the future just across the Jalangi river. By Srila Prabhupada’s strong desire that temple is now beginning to […]

The Laddu Mar festival takes place a day before the famous Holi festival at Varsana. The residents of Varsana have great fun throwing laddu sweets at each other from balconies, rooftops and inside the temples. Unknown to us, they also begin throwing co…

“Even if I have the opportunity to bath in the ocean of pure love of Krsna, and even if I have the pure devotees of the infallible Supreme Personality of Godhead as my associates, I will not consent to live for even for a single moment in any sacred place other than Vrajabhumi. Even if […]

The first thing I did today was walk around Vrindavan. It was so nice to see again the people and places that have become familiar to me over the years. Though I often go on parikrama it always feels like the ‘first time,’ due to Vrindavan’s being a transcendental abode. I took along my trusty […]

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted His followers to move all over the world to preach in every town and village.

I have arrived back home in Sri Vrindavan Dhama and am happily taking shelter of the holy names: “My happiness is uninterrupted while serving You, worshiping You, offering prayers to You and chanting Your holy names. When these activities are finished, my happiness is also finished.” Lord Siva to Lord Krsna in the Brahma-vivarta purana […]

Bada Haridas and myself are enjoying the association of devotees in Auckland, New Zealand. Yesterday Kalasamvara prabhu showed us around ISKCON’s beautiful New Varsana community in the countryside. In the afternoon we went on harinam in the city with all the devotees. Krsna consciousness is expanding rapidly in the country known as the ‘long white […]

Home programs, with their simple formats of kirtan, class and prasadam, are a wonderful way for devotees of the Lord to associate. Here is one such program at the home of my disciples, Sakhi Rai das and Vraja Laksmi dasi. Devotees from Brisbane and the…

We have to take proper advantage by chanting Hare Krsna as our Spiritual master instructs us, trains us and inspires us. We should also be very attentive to avoiding any offenses to the Holy Name.

After our festival tour in Gujarat concluded I headed straight to Jaipur to report the success of our efforts to Sri Sri Radha Govinda, the beloved deities of Srila Rupa Goswami. Bowing down before Him, I recounted each event we held and how the crowds…

With a grand Ratha Yatra through the heart of Mumbai and a massive two-day festival in a large park we took our final bows in our 7-week festival tour of India. We pray that Srila Prabhupada has been pleased with our humble efforts to help spread Lord Caitanya’s movement in the land of dharma. With […]

Srila Prabhupada visited Surat, Gujarat with 25 western disciples in December, 1970. He spent 14 days giving lectures in various places throughout the city. Today in an old house here in Surat, I found an album of 30 black and white photos taken during…

My good friend, Visnu Murti dasa, who manages Vanipedia, kindly sent me this audio link from a ‘questions and answers’ session with Srila Prabhupada in New Mayapura, France on August 5, 1976, wherein I ask His Divine Grace a question. Srila Prabhupada’s response gives me great hope! The translation of the conversation is below. One […]

On our last day in Gujarat we participated in Ratha Yatra in Surat and held a final festival program downtown in the evening. We are now on our way to Mumbai for yet another Ratha Yatra and our final two festivals of the tour.

The other day we visited the house where Srila Prabhupada stayed with his Western disciples during a visit to Surat in 1970. Many of the local people vividly remembered His Divine Grace. To celebrate our visit we chanted in the same streets that Srila …

Volume 14, Chapter 1 Feb 8, 2014   In December of 1970 , Srila Prabhupada spent fourteen days in Surat, India, with twenty-five of his Western disciples. Five years earlier, he had traveled to the west on the order of his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, to spread Krsna Consciousness. ISCKON was still a fledgling […]

Глава 1 Сурат, Индия   В декабре 1970-го Шрила Прабхупада провел с двадцатью пятью своими западными учениками четырнадцать дней в Сурате (Индия). Пятью годами ранее по указанию своего духовного учителя Шрилы Бхактисиддханты Сарасвати он уехал на запад, чтобы распространять сознание Кришны. ИСККОН ко времени его возвращения был совсем еще молодым движением, но у Прабхупады было […]

These are Ananta Vrindavan’s excellent photos of our festival program in Bharuch, a town of 400,000 people on the banks of the sacred Narmada river in Gujarat. The people of Bharuch were mesmerized by the show, reminding me of Srila Prabhupada’s statement that the Krsna consciousness movement would, “take the world over by culture.”

Our last embrace. Hard to accept Bimal’s gone. I know Krsna’s instructions to Arjuna are not to grieve, but for the moment it’s all I can do. A friend like Bimal is hard to find. I miss you Mufasa.

In December, 1970 Srila Prabhupada visited Surat, Gujarat for two weeks with 25 of his western disciples. Following in their illustrious footsteps we went on Ratha Yatra the very day we arrived in Surat. We could feel Srila Prabupada’s mercy as we chanted and danced through the streets. We will have 5 festival programs in […]

Bimal Prasad das, a wonderful disciple of Srila Prabhupada and a good friend of mine, passed away a few hours ago. In Memoriam If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane, I’d walk right up to Heaven and bring you home again. Few farewell words were spoken, so little time to say goodbye, […]

Ananta Vrindavan dasa from Australia arrived two days ago to spend a week with our festival tour here in Gujarat. His photography is a work of art. He perfectly captured the mood of our festival in Vadadora the other night.

Just as a child is fully dependent on his mother whether he knows it or not, we are fully dependent on the Lord whether we accept it or not.

This afternoon we again left the oasis of the temple and went with our camel caravan into the desert of material existence to distribute the refreshing nectar of Krsna’s sweet the holy names. Chanting and dancing along the hot pavement of Vadodara’s streets we invited the inhabitants of the city to our festival this evening. […]

Srila Prabhupada once said, “Tax your brains how to spread this movement.” So today we loaded our devotees, puppets and musical instruments on carts drawn by camels and did harinam throughout the city of Vadodara, all the while announcing our festival tomorrow night. News of the extravaganza spread quickly and soon all local newspapers and […]

Jamnagar, with a population of 600,000, is called the ‘Oil City of India.’ It has the the world’s largest oil refinery. We held our festival in an open field near the center of the town.To my surprise, 10,000 people showed up early for one of the best shows of our tour.

“The heavenly planets are more celebrated than the earth. But the celebrity of earth has defeated that of the heavenly planets because of Dwarka where Lord Sri Krsna reigned as a king. Three places, mainly Vrindavan, Mathura and Dwarka, are more important than the famous planets within the universe. These places are perpetually sanctified because […]

As soon as our bus arrived in the sacred abode of Dwarka we all jumped out and began harinam through the town. Chanting and dancing for hours we finally ended up in front of the 2,500 year-old Rukmini Dwarkadish Temple. As we continued kirtan many of t…

When we come to festivals and give our heart to the festival, listen with a desire to advance, apply the knowledge the speaker has spoken in our lives, chant from the heart and dance in kirtan we make a quantum leap in our devotional lives.

This evening at our festival in Rajkot, Gujarat people came in by the droves. At one point I turned to a security guard and asked, “Sir, how many people are here?” Not taking his eyes off the entrance to the field he replied, “Eight thousand and counting.” As I walked onto the stage to give […]

Yesterday we went on harinam in Dakor, home to the famous deity of Ranchor. In sanskrit Ranchor signifies a coward or, “one who leaves the battlefield.” Krsna, however, is glorified and is famous amongst His devotees as Ranchor because He left the battlefield to rescue Rukmini, His first queen in Dwarka. People were stunned seeing […]

Yesterday we held a festival program in the center of Anand, Gujarat. Over 4,000 people attended. Anand translates as ‘bliss’ in sanskrit. It was certainly blissful reminding the local people of their original culture of Krsna consciousness.Today we will have harinam in Dakor and visit the famous deity of Ranchor-raya.

What we call death is the death of the outward dress – the body. Where does the Soul go at the moment of death…Where are we going? Bhagavad Gita also answers this question.

I spoke to the crowd of 1,500 people at this evenings festival in Ahmedabad and then drove quickly to the airport to catch my flight Australia. I’ll bring good tidings to my dear friend Bimal Prasad who is leaving this world and then with his blessings return to India to continue the preaching that is […]