Author Archives: H.H. Ramai Swami

The Strategic Planning Network, headed by Gopal Bhatta das, once again organised devotees from around the world to meet in Sridham Mayapur. The committees continued their work and discussed initiatives for expanding in areas such as, outreach preaching, organisational development, … Continue reading →

The Mayapur ToVP design team have produced a temporary mock-up showing how the Deities and Altars will appear in the new temple.   The Guru-Paramapara up to the six Gosvamis are placed on the left Altar, the Panca-tattva are on the … Continue reading →

The “SGGS” short for the Sannyasi, Guru, GBC, Sanga meeting in Mayapur was attended by 60 or 70 senior devotees from around the world. Braja Bihari das led everyone through sessions where ISKCON in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and … Continue reading →

On a public holiday in Auckland, the temple organised a kirtan picnic at Mission Bay. Many families and children came and the Harinama Ruci brahmacaris led ecstatic chanting through the market stall area. At the end we had a sit … Continue reading →

  Home programs and Bhakti Vrksa programs are going on nicely in Wellington. The Temple President, Jagjivan Prabhu, hosted one in his house for my visit. The next morning the devotees from the Bhakti Lounge joined everyone for the morning … Continue reading →

The Harinama Ruci brahmacaris visited Wellington and invited devotees from the Newlands Centre and Bhakti Lounge Centre on kirtan downtown. Everyone went for chanting and prasadam distribution at Frank Kitts park at the bottom of the city on the bay. … Continue reading →

The devotees in Christchurch have finally got resource consent from the city council to rebuild the temple, which had to be demolished a few years ago after the earthquake.  Hopefully, by the end of the year it will be up … Continue reading →

Saturday nights at the Lotus Room, Sydney, have now switched to the Govindas Asrama and even though it’s smaller, somehow the same amount of guests squeeze in. Kirtans are usually led by expert devotees accompanied by drum and other instruments. … Continue reading →

  For the last couple of years, devotees from Govindas Asrama have gone to the walk tunnel underneath Central Railway Station, Sydney. They sit down bhajan style and chant for a couple of hours while morning commuters go to work, … Continue reading →

The brahmacaris traveling on the world harinama party stayed on New Govardhana for a few days before leaving for New Zealand. One day they led “Yoga Kirtana” with about 30 or 40 Woofers who are staying at the farm. Srila … Continue reading →

    The New Govardhana Summer Festival was held between Jan 9th to 11th. Many devotees came even though on the last day the weather was a little wild with wind and rain. There was much kirtan, drama, cow feeding … Continue reading →

Every year, Sydney devotees, Pratapana das and Jayasri dd, organise a gathering and dinner for all the Prabhupada disciples and senior devotees in the area. There were veteran devotees such as Kurma das, Camari dasi, Dvaipayana das, Sri Prahlada das, … Continue reading →

Around the world people celebrate New Years Eve by partying and fireworks. The devotees taking advantage of this situation usually go out on harinama, book and prasadam distribution. The world harinama party, consisting of brahmacaris who travel around from country … Continue reading →

Urban Yoga advertised the title of my lecture, “Spiritual Life in the Modern Age,” for another night at the centre, which has now been beautifully renovated. This was on a Tuesday night but still many new people came. Some were … Continue reading →

On the first Saturday of every month the devotees at Urban Yoga, Melbourne, advertise a big kirtan night followed by wonderful prasadam. It is especially geared to attract westerners and usually there’s a good attendance. The mantras are projected onto … Continue reading →

New Gokula farm looks very beautiful due to the amount of rain that has fallen recently. The cows are happy and devotees are growing vegetables and cultivating gardens. Also, the new preaching centre in Newcastle, the Bhakti Tree, is nearing … Continue reading →

Perth is a spread out city and the growing temple community lives far and wide in various suburbs. Abhiseka das and Dasikha devi dasi are two devotees from India who now live in Perth. Every Saturday evening they organise Kirtan … Continue reading →

The Baywater Council allowed Devaprastha das to cultivate non-residential land near his house into an orchard and vegetable garden. Produce is available free to the local community. He calls it the Prema Culture Gardens and every Monday night there is … Continue reading →

Padma das and Mahabhakti devi dasi are active members of the Bali Sanur area devotees. For a while Padma was the general manager of the Jagannatha Gauranga temple. Now he actively goes out on book distribution all over Bali and … Continue reading →

Five thousand years ago, on the battlefield of Kuruksetra, the Supreme Lord Krsna delivered the most confidential and topmost knowledge of devotional service in the form of the Bhagavad-gita to His dearmost devotee Arjuna, and to humanity at large. Every … Continue reading →

The Happy Lakshmi Restaurant is operated by Mahavirya das and his wife Maha Pavitra devi dasi. Both are doctors but like to sell prasadam to local people. There are regular preaching programs upstairs for the devotees and newcomers. Bali TV … Continue reading →

Denpasar is a city of about 4 million people so there are many devotees who live in the area and attend the temple. As a follow up to the Bhagavad-gita recital at the Tanah-lot temple, Bali TV came to our … Continue reading →

The Tabanan Regency, Tabanan Youth Association and the Indonesian Bhagavad-gita Movement arranged a recital of all the verses of Bhagavad-gita by 6,000 high school students. This was observed near the famous Tanah-lot temple in Bali. Nearly 1000 of our devotees … Continue reading →

On every Ekadasi, many devotees from Radha Gopinath Mandir, Bali, gather at the temple. They chant extra rounds, do more kirtan, hear Bhagavad-gita and some even stay awake all night to observe the Ekadasi vrata. Lord Krsna told Yudhisthira, “One … Continue reading →

Tulasi Vivaha is a festival where it is said that tulasi devi, in this world in the form of a plant, marries Krsna, in the form of Saligram Sila. Briefly, the story is that tulasi took birth as the daughter … Continue reading →

The glorious full moon night that ends Damodara month marks the last transcendental pastime of the month of Karttik, called Sri Krishna Rasayatra. This is similar to the Krishna’s Rasa dance which takes place during Vasant. To mark this pastime … Continue reading →

The G-20 conference is a forum for the governments of 20 major economies around the world. Collectively, the G-20 economies account for 85% of the gross world product. This year, the conference is being held in Brisbane and leading up … Continue reading →

Lord Chaitanya said: yadi papi chadi dharma dure dese yaya mora senapati-bhakta yaibe tathaya “Taking the sharp sword of the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra, I will root out and destroy the demoniac mentality in the hearts of all conditioned souls. … Continue reading →

“The hill named Govardhan is the king of mountains. It was born from Lord Hari’s own chest. It has come here by the power of Pulastya Muni and by seeing it one becomes free from having to take birth again … Continue reading →

The Tirumala Hill is 853m above sea level. It comprises seven peaks, representing the seven heads of Adisesha, thus earning the name Seshachalam. The presiding deity of the temple at Tirupati is Lord Venkatesvara, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Venkateswara is known by other names: Balaji, Govinda, … Continue reading →

Devotees from all over the world were in attendance for the GBC midterm meeting at ISKCON Tirupati. Time was spent discussing strategic planning initiatives but a few days were put aside to resolve the differences of opinion in the process … Continue reading →

Karttika is the purest of purifiers, and most glorious of all months. Karttika month is particularly dear to Lord Sri Krsna. This month is full of bhakta vatsalya. Any vrata, even the smallest, will yield huge results.   Even for … Continue reading →

Revati-raman Das, the president of ISKCON Tirupati, invited the GBC to have their midterm meeting in the temple complex. Tirupati is famous as the home of Lord Venkatesvara where more than 30 million pilgrims come to take His darshan every … Continue reading →

On one day of the Mayapur GBCom meeting, the leaders met with department managers and divisional heads. There are over thirty departments in Mayapur and some of them have more than 60 devotees doing service in various capacities. The leaders … Continue reading →

Omkara das, a town planner and Yadurani devi dasi, an architect, head up the Mayapur master-plan team. For the last two years they have been working on finishing documents that will outline the development of the town of Sridhama Mayapur. … Continue reading →

Rainy season in Mayapur doesn’t stop construction going on at the Temple of Vedic Planetarium. The stainless steel superstructure for the main dome is progressing steadily and a lot of work has been done on the planetarium structure itself. Even … Continue reading →

Recently, there was a successful test landing of an 11 seater Pavanhans helicopter in the parking lot near the Vamsi Bhavan guest house. Captain Malhotra of Pawan Hans, along with Mr. Virendra Singh-Chief of Durgapur Airport authority of Bengal, were received with … Continue reading →

Toowoomba, about 100 Km west of Brisbane, is known as the garden city. It is also a regional centre for academic study with a couple of universities. Every year the town hosts the Grand Central Floral Parade and there are … Continue reading →

HH Bhakti Caru Maharaja travels all over the world giving wonderful classes, leading blissful kirtan and serving the vaisnava community. He is very attentive to keeping in touch with as many devotees as possible. Every year, his disciples celebrate his … Continue reading →

Madhavananda das and Locanananda das, disciples of HH Janananda Maharaja, are active members of the Bhakti Centre Gold Coast community. Besides working full time jobs they go on harinama and book distribution as well as attend programs at the centre. … Continue reading →