Blog

Vyasa Puja Reply

Letter to: Devotees
Los Angeles
26 August, 1972
72-08-26

My dear beloved Children,

Please accept my blessings. I am so much pleased with your kind and affectionate words on the occasion of my birthday anniversary on the Nandotsava day this year (1972). My Guru Maharaja wanted me to spread this Krishna Consciousness Movement in western world, and you are all helping in this great attempt.

My Spiritual Master knew it that alone I could not do this great work. Therefore He has ver

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagvatam 10.2.31 for the morning class on Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja day.

“In Srila Prabhupada’s initiation letter to me he wrote, ‘I marked it in your person when I was in Boston, and I prayed to Krishna that this good soul may be aware of the importance of Krishna consciousness.’

“The pure devotee prays to Krishna to give mercy to the fortunate conditioned soul. And because Krishna isbhakta-vatsala—affectionate and favorably inclined to His devotee

Rising like waves from material association, these bad effects mass into a great ocean of misery.

PURPORT

The deluding potency, māyā, is the Lord's own energy and can thus overcome even a powerful sage. As Lord Kapila declares, "Among all kinds of living entities begotten by Brahmā, namely men, demigods, and animals, none but the sage Nārāyaṇa is immune to the attraction of māyā in the form of a woman" (Bhāg. 3.31.37). One should not flirt with māyā, thinking that one can transgress a little a

As Vasudeva-suta, Krsna performs pastimes that, for the most part, prominently review His power and opulence, while as Nanda-suta He performs only humanlike pastimes that prominently reveal His sweetness. Vasudeva-suta’s lila is clothed in opulence while decorated with sweetness, like an opulent mirror decorated with an attractive picture. By contrast, Nanda-suta’s lila is clothed in sweetness while decorated in opulence, like a beautifully painted stage curtain decorated at the bottom with a r

ISKCON Temples all over the world celebrated Janmashtami, the 5243rd “birth” of Lord Krishna, on 25th August 2016. Radha Krishna Deties in ISKCON Radha Gopinath Temple - Girgaum Chowpatty were wearing the opulent gold hand embroidered dress of zardosi on pure silken velvets in royal Colours inspired by the six opulence’s of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna during the day time .The night dress was completely hand woven by the weavers in Varanasi / Banaras in pure silks and gold Zar

Expression reflects and reinforces emotion. The celebration of Vyasa-puja is an expression of the gratitude that the disciple feels for the spiritual master. And that feeling becomes reinforced when a disciple expresses one’s own gratitude and hears other disciples’ express their gratitude.

The spiritual master’s guidance and grace are indispensable for elevating and liberating souls caught in this dangerous and treacherous material existence. The spiritual master is non-different from the Supr

I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline awhile back, half paying attention, when an image came up which read:

Don't know which is worse: To be present and your presence not acknowledged or to be absent and your absence not felt.

It caught me off guard and made me stop what I was doing, reflect and pose the question as to which would be worse for me. As a person who thrives on validation, my initial response was immediate - obviously being present and not having my presence acknowledged w

While attending the Janmastami festival at the ISKCON farm in Czechoslovakia several years ago, I was asked to give a lecture about the appearance of Lord Krishna. Afterwards I asked for questions and an elderly, red-haired lady raised her hand. Since almost all the devotees there spoke only Czech, I was surprised when she began to speak in English. She said, “Satsvarupa Gosvami, could you tell us something about Prabhupada, because you knew him very well?”

I started out by remembering Janmasta

Giriraj Swami read and spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.33.36 at Lord Krishna’s Appearance Day festival.

“When we hear these stories, we should think, ‘Krishna is so kind to His devotees.’ Even in the midst of the worst calamity, if you just take shelter of Krishna — just surrender to Krishna — He will protect you.  ‘I could have that facility if I surrender to Krishna. Why am I missing out — puttering around with my little toys and sense gratification and fallible soldiers? I am wasting my time.

We recently returned from the annual pilgrimage to Glastonbury. The iconic music festival has a remarkable history. What began 40 years ago with one pound tickets, free milk, and a few thousand people, has now grown to a tented city of 180,000 people, high profile performances and a media spotlight bringing an audience of tens of millions. What has remained, however, is the sense of idealism, activism, counter culture and ‘outside the box’ approach. It’s a refreshing contrast to an otherwise c

Including Manipur ISKCON in the worldwide celebration of 50 Golden years of ISKCON, the Youth Forum of ISKCON Manipur organized ‘The Achintya Youth Festival 2016’, from 21st to 24th August 2016 at the temple premises and was completed successfully. A festivity replete with cultural programs, musical performances, debate, quizzies, interesting competitions, interaction with distinguished professors, social workers and celebrities, martial arts presentationa, kirtans, prizes and to complete

Beautiful floral decorations today for the Bhaktivedanta Manor altar and Deities.

Source : http://www.dandavats.com/?p=30768

San Francisco, Calif. – Several thousand Indian Americans, along with other devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, gathered together here Aug. 14 to celebrate the 50th annual Ratha Yatra.

“I have come every year since 1994,” Mohini Raj, bearing several garlands of marigolds which she offered to Sri Jagannatha, told India-West. The elderly woman brought her young grandchildren along this year, to clap, sing and dance at the joyous festival. “This reminds me of the festi

The Holy Appearance Day of 
His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Maharaja

When Nanda Maharaja is observing a great festival for the appearance day of his beloved son, Sri Krsna, that very day Krsna’s very dear devotee, very intimate devotee, His own man, has appeared.
What is the necessity of the Vaisnavas coming here? Sadhu-vaisnavas, Krsna’s own men are always with Krsna in that sat-cid-ananda-maya-dhama. Those who have attained Krsna, only see krsna-sambandha, the rela

In the chapter of the Krishna book titled “Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Krishna in the Womb” Srila Prabhupada cautions against the tendency to be a bit impersonal towards God. We understand that Krishna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has both personal and impersonal aspects – He is simultaneously one with everything and different from everything. It’s easy to see and appreciate the power and energy of Krishna in the world in front of us, but sometimes not so easy to see or understa

janma karma me divyam

Today marks the auspicious celebration of the Appearence Day Of Lord Sri Krishna, Janmastami. We will fast all day and have a small feast at midnight. The following are some selected quotes by Srila Prabhupada on understanding Krishna.

“Let us understand Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness movement. Let us understand Krishna. And if you simply understand Krishna, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah… Tattvatah, in truth, not su

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that His appearance, birth, and activities, are all transcendental, and one who understands them factually becomes immediately eligible to be transferred to the spiritual world. The Lord’s appearance or birth is not like that of an ordinary man who is forced to accept a material body according to his past deeds. The Lord’s appearance is explained in the Second Chapter: He appears out of His own sweet pleasure. When the time was mature for the appear

One thing you notice is that if like me you use social media there is a lot of articles that come along and once you closely scrutinise them it becomes clear that the information contained is not what it seems to be.

So it was of interest that I found a reference to an article that caught my curiosity and so a further look and small research was undertaken and it appeared to be valid; but interestingly made me feel inspired as Sri Krishna had made the whole journey of Srila Prabhupada even more

I've taken the auspicious opportunity of Srī Krishna Janmāṣṭhamī to resume my work on presenting Canto Four of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, in the same manner as I have so far managed, despite myself, to present the first three. I resume from the very beginning of Chapter 22:

Just as the citizens finished expressing their appreciation to King Pṛthu, four sages entered the arena, descending from the sky and shining as brilliantly as the sun. The King and his retinue recognized them as Brahma’s original qu