Planet ISKCON

Giriraj Swami in an interview with Gauranga Das from the ISKCON GBC Strategic Planning Team on “Devotee Care”.

For over two weeks, devotees all over the world prayed very intensly for the recovery of Bhakti Charu Swami. He passed away on July 4th, 2020. How to carry on in one's spirirual life when the Lord doesn't seem to listen to one's prayers?

  It’s hard to fathom, That it could be so, But warriors do enter, And charge into battle, And may not return— A matter of death and dignity. Because of the love lost, It becomes a tearful time. With the voice of guidance now gone, An apparent vacuum exists. Something went wrong perhaps. Loved ones […]

The post Warrior Saint: A Poem in Dedication to Bhakti Charu Swami appeared first on ISKCON News.

Bhakti Charu Swami.

A video by Real You.

In the first podcast of the newly launched Engaged Bhakti series Krishna Kishor Das (Christopher Fici) talks to Yogesvara Dasa (Joshua M. Greene).

Mayapur TV.

Husband and wife Radhe Radhe Devi Dasi and Nandanandana Das, second generation devotees and disciples of Bir Krishna Goswami, are running a series of online kirtan festivals to bring devotees around the world together during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Covad-19 Crisis - ISKCON Food For Life Distribution from Worldwide Donations during the Pandemic

What Should the Disciples Do After the Guru Leaves the Material World? (3 min. video)
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It is an irreparable loss for all of us. One thought though gives me some solace - he was not of this world. He was like a lotus flower, which grows from the mud in the water, but still is completely unaffected by the muddy environment, not to the slightest extent. Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu gave this sent this perfect servant of His to assist Srila Prabhupada in his mission, and He also showed to all of us by the example Bhakti Charu Maharaja what it means to be a Vaisnava. And now Gauranga Mahaprabhu just called him back. Continue reading "An irreparable loss
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It is still an unbelievable shock for me to know that I will not be able to associate with you the way I used to. I can visualise you walking so elegantly as if you are floating and this quality of effortless grace permeates every aspect of your personality. You are so dear to Srila Prabhupada that on the first meeting itself Srila Prabhupada gave you the mammoth seva of translating all his books into Bengali, a seva which you diligently and successfully completed as an offering to His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada on his centennial year.

I am praying to my worshipful Lord, Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Jiu, for engaging Srila Charu Maharaj in the service of his Gurudeva, His Divine Grace Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada eternally

Listening carefully to all of your instructions, we can understand how closely you followed the disciplic succession. Some of your statements were very close to Srila Prabhupada’s words, and some took the basic principles that Srila Prabhupada gave and sweetened them with beautiful personal realization. Continue reading "A message to the disciples of HH Bhakti Charu Swami
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The vacuum felt by Bhakti Charu Maharaja’s departure is immense. And that is how it should be. These feelings of separation are the proper testimony to Bhakti Charu Maharaja’s life—so exemplary, so well lived. What more can we say? “He was a Vaikuntha man”—a saintly Vaisnava and surrendered servant of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada. The best way to find solace from the pain of Bhakti Charu Maharaja’s separation is to remember his words, follow his example of a pure Vaisnava’s life, and to redouble our dedication to the mission Bhakti Charu Maharaja gave his every breath to—Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON. Continue reading "A letter to the disciples, friends, and followers of HH Bhakti Charu Maharaja
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At the time that I was voted onto the GBC, ISKCON and its governing body was undergoing an excruciatingly difficult period of trial and testing. However, there were compensations for all our trials and tribulations, and for me the main compensation was the opportunity to serve with a number of extraordinary devotees, extraordinary especially in their dedication to Srila Prabhupada and to his mission. And chief among them, for me, was His Holiness Bhakti Caru Swami. Especially, he embodied, in his own singular way, that particular synthesis of opposites seen in the person of Srila Prabhupada and other great devotees: although in the breadth and depth of his pure dedication to Guru and Krsna, he is awe-inspiring, the devotee himself seems to be altogether unaware of it. I had seen first hand in Srila Prabhupada that singular union of greatness and humility, and, somehow, here it was again, in Bhakti Caru Swami. Continue reading "A very perfect Gentleman!
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Mathura-vasa - you were not only living in the Holy Places in India but wherever you went you turned that ordinary place into places of pastimes. Even on your last journey, you were working so tirelessly on establishing a new farm community fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s desire. Continue reading "The example of the 5 limbs of devotional service that Caitanya Mahaprabhu emphasized
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One of your most prominent qualities while you were physically with us was your deep love for Srila Prabhupada. Very soon after you met him, he included you in his personal staff and made you his secretary for Bengali and Hindi correspondence. Soon thereafter, he gave you first and second initiation and then sannyasa. And you personally, lovingly served him throughout his last days. Continue reading "Dear Bhakti Charu Swami
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Bhakti Charu Maharaja was a true touchstone. Whoever came in contact with him was given an opportunity to experience a life-changing transformation. I experienced the magic of his presence for the first time in 1979 when we met in Calcutta. He was in charge of the local BBT office, and thanks to our common service as translators of Srila Prabhupada’s books, we immediately connected as brothers in arms, exchanging our realizations. Continue reading "HH Bhakti Charu Maharaja: a ‘true touchstone’
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Can you picture our dear Vaisnava gentleman His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami as a sword-wielding, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, general on the battlefield, a courageous soldier in the thick of battle, waging war on behalf of ISKCON? A more predominant view of Maharaja is one who is a source of inspiration, refuge, and hope. However, as I reflect on my recent GBC Executive Committee service with Bhakti Charu Swami, an instance of such a military persona stands out vividly in my mind. Continue reading "HH Bhakti Charu Maharaja being a ‘courageous firebrand…’
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Warriors Saint

In dedication to Bhakti Caru Swami 

It’s hard to fathom,

That it could be so,

But warriors do enter,

And charge into battle,

And may not return—

A matter of death and dignity.

Because of the love lost,

It becomes a tearful time.

With the voice of guidance now gone,

An apparent vacuum exists.

Something went wrong perhaps.

Loved ones become confused,

No one can know the plan…

Emotions begin to play out—

A welling of tears in the eyes—

An wholesome outpour of feelings,

With friends/family around.

A figurative pool of water collects,

Leaving a surface of reflection,

Of two faces—of one grieving,

A second—the one who died achieving.

If you look deep and hard,

The warrior-saint who achieved,

Carries a magnificent smile.

And with a nodding approval,

And directional message,

He says, “Go forward!

There’s a fight to fight!

There is a world to shake!

There’s a God to love!

Don’t be disturbed!”

May the Source be with you!

8 km 

Dear Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. And all glories to your wonderful service to him.

One of your most prominent qualities while you were physically with us was your deep love for Srila Prabhupada. Very soon after you met him, he included you in his personal staff and made you his secretary for Bengali and Hindi correspondence. Soon thereafter, he gave you first and second initiation and then sannyasa. And you personally, lovingly served him throughout his last days.

You were also devoted to ISKCON. You always considered ISKCON to be a unique creation of Srila Prabhupada’s and always wanted to serve ISKCON—both the devotees in ISKCON and ISKCON as an entity, a manifestation of Srila Prabhupada. You loved anyone who loved Srila Prabhupada.

You were a very pure-hearted, loving person. Your love for Srila Prabhupada was seen in your love for the devotees and for people in general, whom you wanted to bring to Srila Prabhupada—and in how you encouraged devotees to increase their engagement, take on more responsibility, and become more loving, humble servants. The more responsibility one accepts, you once explained to a devotee in Mauritius, the bigger servant of the devotees one becomes. This reminded me of something Srila Prabhupada once said when a disciple came into his room in Mayapur one day and began to complain about the management. Srila Prabhupada said, “If you think you can do better, why don’t you?” Somehow, the disciple came out and announced that Srila Prabhupada had made him the temple commander, and he began to boss around the other devotees. Some devotees complained to Srila Prabhupada that the devotee had said that Prabhupada had made him the temple commander and that now he was barking orders at everyone. So Srila Prabhupada called for the devotee and instructed him: “First you become the servant of everyone; then you become the temple commander.” Thus Srila Prabhupada expressed the same idea, that a bigger position means becoming a bigger servant. And you, in parampara, had that same understanding.

Listening carefully to all of your instructions, we can understand how closely you followed the disciplic succession. Some of your statements were very close to Srila Prabhupada’s words, and some took the basic principles that Srila Prabhupada gave and sweetened them with beautiful personal realization.

Another of your many fine qualities was your offenselessness. You were very careful not to commit any offense against any devotee, or any living entity, and if you felt you had committed an offense, you immediately tried to mitigate its effects by approaching the person, apologizing, and asking forgiveness. Somehow or other you tried to rectify the offense. From our point of view, we wouldn’t think you had committed an offense, but within your pure heart you may have felt that you had, and immediately you would try to approach and please the person you feared you had offended, to remove the effects of the offense.

You exemplified the principle found in The Nectar of Devotion of “Not Giving Pain to Any Living Entity,” which was supported with a reference from the Mahabharata: “A person who does not disturb or cause painful action in the mind of any living entity, who treats everyone just like a loving father does his children, whose heart is so pure, certainly very soon becomes favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” That was you: so pure, just like a loving father to everyone—and favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 You were a perfect gentleman—and Vaishnava. Once, an interviewer asked Srila Prabhupada, “How would I recognize a true follower of the Krishna consciousness movement by his behavior? What would his traits be? What would his outward expressions be?” And Prabhupada replied, “His behavior—he is a perfect gentleman. That’s all. You cannot find any fault in him. That is perfect Krishna consciousness.” That was you: a perfect gentleman—one could not find any fault in you.

Your heart was pure and very sensitive—full of appreciation for other devotees and sensitive to your own faults, which again, from our point of view, wouldn’t even have been considered faults. That’s really the heart of a Vaishnava—full of love and appreciation for others but sensitive to one’s own deficiencies or mistakes.

As stated by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita (12.13–14), “One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me—such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.” You exemplified all those qualities described by Lord Krishna and thus were very dear to Him—and to us, to all others.

Now you have left this world and gone to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna. As Srila Prabhupada said, when a Vaishnava departs we feel both happy and sad—happy because the Vaishnava has gone to serve Lord Krishna and sad because we will miss the Vaishnava’s association. Sometimes the pain of separation is so intense that we can only recall Raya Ramananda’s exchange with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Cc Madhya 8.248):

“duhkha-madhye kona duhkha haya gurutara?”
“krsna-bhakta-viraha vina duhkha nahi dekhi para”

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked, “Of all kinds of distress, what is the most painful?”
Sri Ramananda Raya replied, “Apart from separation from the devotee of Krsna, I know of no unbearable unhappiness.”

Still, we will try to be happy serving in separation. As Srila Prabhupada wrote to one of his disciples, “Please be happy in separation. I am separated from my guru maharaja since 1936, but I am always with him so long I work according to his direction. So we should all work together for satisfying Lord Krishna, and the feeling of separation will transform into transcendental bliss.”

By serving Srila Prabhupada’s—and your—instructions, we will feel his presence, and yours. And in fact we will live with you both. As Srila Prabhupada wrote in his dedication to Srimad-Bhagavatam: “To Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, my spiritual master: He lives forever by his divine instructions and the follower lives with him.”

Please look kindly upon us and guide and inspire us, following in your footsteps, to serve Srila Prabhupada and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and when we have done what you want us to do here, bring us back to you and Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet.

Your eternal servant,
Giriraj Swami

Attachement for hearing Krishna-katha from the mouth of a pure devotee is everything!

LIVE from Srila Prabhupada Puspa Samadhi Temple - Smaran Utsav of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Sri Mayapur Dham - July 6, 2020

• For Bhakti Charu Maharaj, taking care of ISKCON was like taking care of Srila Prabhupada’s body. For him it was non-different. • His behavior was very refined and he was a real gentleman. • He said: If you love Prabhupada, you will work to make ISKCON better.

Toronto, Ontario

Tonight’s Walk and Sit

Tonight I met Jake who very much misses eating at Govinda’s.

“It’s not that having a take-out wasn’t nice. I just like eating the meal inside and sitting back and taking in the peaceful atmosphere.“

Jake was on his bicycle but stopped to talk. Once we finished, he was inspired to walk his bike. I didn’t ask him to.

The only other person who somewhat gravitated toward me was a very loud bipolar chap. He saw me in the lotus position when the breezes were so inviting. Well, the breeze blew him my way. He was open and friendly enough; spoke a mile a minute.

“I’m Muslim. Hey, you’re sitting in the direction of Mecca. Did you know that? The three Abrahamic religions are all part of the same family…. Do you mind praying for me? Please.”

He gave me his name and just went on talking.

“I will pray,“ I responded. And I did. He now has a mantra.

I’m still having the toughest time getting over the departure of Bhakti Caru Swami. It came so suddenly. Although he passed away in Florida, arrangements are being made to fly his body back to India for the last rites where he will be placed in a samadhi in Mayapura, ISKCON’s headquarters. During those thoughts I shifted myself more in the direction of the east, toward Mayapura. Maybe I’ll get the blessings of both Mecca and Mayapura. https://iskconnews.org/beloved-iskcon-guru-and-gbc-member-bhakti-charu-swami-passes-away,7419/

Indeed the breezes were so favourable, but my mind was disturbed at the loss of a true brother.

May the Source be with you!

4 km

Headwaters, Ontario

Clean Consciousness

I was on two zoom calls this morning with Trinidad, Tobago, and Guyana as the first, then a second call with Brampton. During both online communications, I presented details of the first Ratha Yatra (or Festival of the Chariots) five millennia ago when people from all over Bharatvarsha (Greater India) converged at Kuruksetra during a solar eclipse. It was a massive familial reunion of the Yadu Dynasty.

That presentation, in many ways, was supplementary. The main focus of each conversation was with regard to His Holiness Bhakti Caru Swami, whose sudden departure from this world shocked a global community of yogis within the bhakti lineage.

Afterward,  a visit—that was long in the planning—to Vishal’s Caledon farm was good. There, as in the aforementioned discussions, we opened our dialogue with remembrance of a mild soul who taught us so much about being temperate amidst madness. His passing came so suddenly, though Maharaj was diagnosed as Covid 19 positive earlier in June.

We enjoyed a great meal prepared by Yasomati, Vishal’s wife, which was nothing short of an ahimsa-milk wonder. Their herd of Gir and Guernsey cows and bulls are protected from slaughter. A new barn is coming up for them to be completed before winter.

At Hockley Valley, we stopped over at Tom’s cabin on the Nottawasaga River. The water there is pristine. It flows so invitingly by his humble home. The water reminded me of our dear monk/friend, Bhakti Caru, whose consciousness was clean like that flow. David, Krishnachandra, Vishal and I bathed in the glory of the Creator’s blood-line. That bath was equivalent to a stroll of ten kilometres.

May the Source be with you!

0 km

HH Giriraj Swami - Serving the Guru in Separation Towaco NJ 7/6/20

Jayadvaita Swami - Remembering Bhakti Caru Swami Towaco NJ 7/6/20

In these monthly 90 minutes sessions Sacinandana Swami shares with us teachings, the philosophy and lot of insights into methods and techniques useful for the practice of chanting, as well as answering many of our questions.

An Incalculable Loss for the The GBC College

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja had been a Trustee of the GBC College for Leadership Development from its inception, in October 2014.

Just a few days before he departed for the US, he called me in the wee hours of his night. "What are you doing up so early, Maharaja?" It was 2am IST. He was thinking how the society could put Srila Prabhupada more in the center. He was concerned for the future, and was unable to sleep just thinking about it. We spoke for half an hour. I consider that last conversation with him one of the great blessings of my life. Continue reading "Along with all of you, his disappearance breaks my heart, too
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