Author Archives: H.H. Ramai Swami

Every year, devotee leaders from around New Zealand meet at New Varshana, Auckland, for the AGM. This is held near the library at the school. Many devotees who live in the area, taking advantage of the leaders presence, come to … Continue reading →

On Friday before our AGM in Auckland, two devotees, Krishna das and Sangita Priya dasi had their wedding ceremony in the temple room. Both are from devotee families. Their Lordships, Sri Sri Radha Giridhari, Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subhadra and Gaura Nitai … Continue reading →

ISKCON Wellington’s Higher Taste restaurant has been operating for many years and is still going strong. There are lots of people who come throughout the day, right up until 8.00pm, Monday to Saturday. TP Jagjivan took me in one evening … Continue reading →

Five hundred years ago in the district of Puri, in the village of Bentapur, there lived a great devotee named Bhavananda Raya. Bhavananda had five sons, the eldest of which was Ramananda. It is said that Lord Caitanya visited the birth-place of … Continue reading →

I was fortunate to be able to attend Lord Nrsimha’s appearance day festival at New Govardhan, which was a wonderful experience. Around five hundred devotees and guests participated in watching a play by the children, beautiful dance and sumptuous prasadam. … Continue reading →

Lord Nrsimhadeva’s appearance festival was celebrated with great enthusiasm at the Southport Centre on the Gold Coast. Over 100 devotees and guests came for the arati, lecture, drama, puspanjali, feast and prasadam. The drama was especially nice with some of … Continue reading →

The annual Brisbane Rathayatra is becoming a more popular festival every year. There were probably a thousand devotees and friends chanting and dancing in front of Lord Jagannatha as His cart was pulled through the streets of the city. Kalasamvara … Continue reading →

Madhu Pandit, a disciple of Sri Gadadhara Pandit, established the temple of Gopinatha in Vrndavana, India. Before Srinivasa Acharya, Narottama dasa Thakura, and Syamananda Prabhu went to bring the books of the Goswamis from Vrndavana to Bengal, Madhu Pandit blessed … Continue reading →

Sita devi, the wife of Lord Rama, was not born in the normal way, but of the Earth Goddess, Bhumi devi herself. In Maharishi Valmiki’s own words, Ramayana is known as the noble story of Sita — “Sita-Ayah Caritam Mahat”. … Continue reading →

Recently, I attended a fund raising dinner for the Sydney West temple construction project. The dinners are organised three times a year as a means to raise much needed laksmi. Special guest was my godbrother, Yasomatinandana das, who is the … Continue reading →

vedavyaso ya evasid daso vrindavano’dhuna sakha yah kusumapidah karyatas tam samavishat Srila Vedavyasa became Vrndavan Das Thakur. Krishna’s friend Kusumapida also entered into him for special purposes. (Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 109) Vrndavan Das Thakur’s famous book was first called Chaitanya Mangala, but … Continue reading →

I recently visited our New Gokula farm and although there has been a severe drought in the area for last few months, finally a good downpour of rain came. As you can see from the pictures, Radha Gokulananda’s cows and … Continue reading →

Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu – it doesn’t matter. If he is simply speaking on behalf of God, he is a guru. Lord Jesus Christ, for instance. He canvassed people, saying, “Just try to love God.” Anyone – it doesn’t matter who … Continue reading →

Feeling very sad (dukhi) over losing several children before his birth, his parents named him Dukhi Krishna Dasa. Upon taking diksha from Hrdaya Chaitanya he became known as Krishna Dasa. In Vrindavana, he joined Narottama Dasa Thakura and Shrinivasa Acharya … Continue reading →

The appearance of Lord Ramacandra, Rama Navami, is enthusiastically celebrated in India and around the world. The devotees in western Sydney invited me for the Rama Navami at a hall they hired for the evening. I led kirtana and gave … Continue reading →

On the way to the Saturday evening Brisbane temple program I stopped off for a lunch program at Rupa Vilasa’s house on the Gold Coast. He and and his family operate a preaching centre in Southport, which has been going … Continue reading →

Rupa Raghunatha is well known to devotees all over Australia. He has been regularly going out on book distribution for over 25 years. Some time ago he moved to Murwillumbah near our New Govardhana temple. When gurus, sannyasis and senior … Continue reading →

Bhaktivedanta Swami Gurukula at New Govardhan is in the process of constructing more high school facilities. This includes relevant earthworks and building of eight classrooms, science lab, art studio, hard court outdoor basketball court, play areas and a toilet block. … Continue reading →

The Bhakti Tree in Newcastle recently celebrated its third year since opening with a special program for the evening. Prasadam was served first from 6pm and over a hundred guests came. This was followed by a wonderful kirtan led by … Continue reading →

The Canberra Bhakti Vrksa program has been going on for over 10 years. I was a guest at the last one and quite a number of devotees and friends attended. What is a “Bhakti Vrksa program?”. It is when a … Continue reading →

This year, I was fortunate to be at our Sydney Temple for Gaura Purnima. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was born in Mayapur in the town of Nadia just after sunset on the evening of the 18th of February 1486. The moon … Continue reading →

Mahaprabhu’s seniors, His parents and gurus, are all His servants and eternal associates and they take their birth prior to His appearance in order to serve Him in their own way. Srila Madhavendra Puri appeared in the 14th century. Sri Advaita … Continue reading →

The GBC members again came to Mayapur for the annual general meeting, which lasted around eleven days. Different topics were discussed and ministers gave their reports in the areas of health and welfare, devotee care, deity worship, book distribution, communications, … Continue reading →

As always, the Mayapur Kirtan Mela is immensely popular and devotees come for all over to attend the 5 day festival. There are a variety of leading devotees who inspire everyone to follow their ecstatic kirtans, which are interspersed with … Continue reading →

The 2018 ISKCON Leadership Sanga (ILS) in Mayapur spanned a period of eight days and was attended by more than eight hundred devotees from all over the world. Devotees enthusiastically went to numerous seminars given by leaders involved in various … Continue reading →

Devotees from all over the world travelled to Mayapur to see the Chakras of the ToVP installed on the domes of Their Lordships, Sri Sri Radha Madhava/Panca Tattva and Lord Nrsimhadeva. The ceremony started around 9.00am with a welcome from … Continue reading →

Lord Nityananda appeared in the village of Ekachakra, in West Bengal, India, around 1474. In the Caitanya Caritamrita He is declared to be the avatar of Lord Balarama, the direct expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. His father … Continue reading →

Australia Day is a national holiday and many parades are held in cities and towns across the country. I was invited to participate in the multicultural procession by the Adelaide co TP, Adi Purusa Krsna das. The devotees brought our … Continue reading →

Ambarish Maharaja das and Ananga Manjari devi dasi have been serving at the Wellington temple for ten years since coming from Pune, India. Although both working, they seem to have boundless energy for preaching. In the last few years they … Continue reading →

It’s always nice being invited to Nama Hatta programs when I come to Auckland. The devotees have them regularly every week at different homes around town. One function I went to was with the family of Suryacandra Krishna das and … Continue reading →

Nimananda Prabhu came with his family from Fiji to New Zealand some twenty years ago. He and his wife performed services in our temples like cooking, deity worship and HK Food for Life. After a time he started selling bhuja … Continue reading →

Some of the congregational leaders from the New Varshana Auckland temple organised a Bhakti Shastri retreat for a group of devotees studying for the degree. It was in a beautiful area of Auckland called Huia and the devotees stayed in … Continue reading →

I am very close to my dear godbrother, Venugopal das, since we were young brahmacaris living and travelling together in the early days of ISKCON Australia. Venu was diagnosed with terminal cancer a few months ago and will leave his … Continue reading →

Adi Purusa Das, the TP of Canberra temple, invited me to a kirtan program on a Saturday night. Even though on that day it was nearly 40 degrees, quite a few devotees attended the evening of blissful chanting. Apart from … Continue reading →

I was invited to lunch with Bhakti Caru Maharaja during his recent visit to Sydney. This was arranged at the home of one of his disciples. I must say that it was so nice because his disciples are such good … Continue reading →

It’s been a tradition for me that when I’m in Sydney for New Years Eve I go on Harinama around the Opera House, Circular Quay and Rocks area. We usually go down a little early around 5 or 6pm because … Continue reading →

Christmas is celebrated by millions all over the world. Thousands of the ISKCON congregation, although not Christians, visit our temples on Christmas day. Carparks are full and temple rooms packed out. Srila Prabhupada commented on Jesus Christ many times: “Jesus … Continue reading →

Srila Jiva Goswami made his appearance in 1533 and disappeared from view at the age of 85 in 1540. As a child, Sri Jiva took up the worship of Rama-Krsna Deities. Carefully decorating Them, and offering bhoga and arati, he … Continue reading →

Srila Locana Dasa Thakura appeared in this world in 1520 A.D., thirty-four years after the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Locana Dasa wrote a biography on Lord Caitanya entitled Sri Caitanya Mangala, based on the diary of Murari Gupta. He … Continue reading →

There are many devotional programs going on in the greater Sydney area. Sometimes they are held in halls and other times at devotee homes. Generally, there is kirtan, lecture, arati and prasadam feast. Recently, I was invited to attend a … Continue reading →