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Sri Sacidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura appeared in 1838 in a wealthy family in the Nadia district, West Bengal. He revealed that he is an eternal associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by his extraordinary preaching activities and prolific writing.

Living as a maha bhagavata Vaisnava, he stayed in the grhasta ashram until the last few years of his life. Then he renounced everything, accepted babaji, and entered samadhi, totally absorbed in the loving service of Gaura-Gadadhara and Radha-Madhava.

“He

A lecture by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s appearance day, September 3, 1971,  London.

Today is a very auspicious day, Thakura Bhaktivinoda’s birthday. Here is the picture of Thakura Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda. He was one of the acharyas of this disciplic succession from Krishna. We have got a succession table from Krishna—a genealogical table. There are two kinds of genealogical tables, one by the semen—the father, his son, hi

Today we have gathered for the most auspicious celebration of the appearance day of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was one of the most prominent acharyas in the disciplic succession after Lord Chaitanya, and his contribution to Gaudiya Vaishnavism and to the world is so great that one devotee called him the Seventh Gosvami. Much of the present Krishna consciousness movement founded by Srila Prabhupada is being conducted under the guidance of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, an

Vāmana Dvādaśī is the appearance day of Lord Vāmanadeva, who appeared in the form of a small brāhmaṇa boy and entered into the remarkable pastime of accepting charity from Mahārāja Bali, the grandson of Prahlāda Mahārāja.
 

Bali Mahārāja, who was the grandson of Prahlāda Mahārāja and a powerful king of the Daitya dynasty, worshipped Lord Viṣṇu. Through his strength and determination, he was able to defeat Indra and became the ruler of the entire universe. Seeing that the demigods had lost their

Lord Vāmanadeva appeared in this world from the womb of Aditi completely equipped with conchshell, disc, club and lotus. His bodily hue was blackish, and He was dressed in yellow garments. Lord Viṣṇu appeared at an auspicious moment on Śravaṇa-dvādaśī when the Abhijit star had arisen.

When the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has a sac-cid-ānanda body, appeared as the son of Kaśyapa and Aditi, both of His parents were very astonished. After His appearance, the Lord assumed the form of a dwarf

When Sri Gaurasundara came to Ramakeli, Sri Jiva was blessed by having darshana of His worshipable lord, though he was just a baby at the time. Placing the dust of His lotus feet on the child’s head, Mahaprabhu indicated him to be the future sovereign preceptor of the Gaudiya sampradaya.

As he got a little older, Sri Jiva took up the worship of the Deities of Sri-Sri Rama-Krsna. He would carefully decorate Them and offer bhoga and arati, serving Them with his full attention. Even in his play, w

Shri Sita Thakurani is to be worshiped just as much as Sachidevi herself, as the mother of the universe. She is the eternal wife of Shri Advaita Acharya. She was the daughter of Shri Nrishinga Baduri. She was married to Shri Advaita Acharya in Phuliya Nagara. After their wedding, Advaita Acharya went to Nadiya, to live in Shantipura. Sita Thakurani was always absorbed in vatsalya prema for Shri Gaurasundara Prabhu, and, out of parental concern used to instruct Jagannatha Mishra on how to care f

Ahead of the Appearance Day of ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Vyasa-puja book team has released the 2026 edition, marking 57 consecutive years of annual tributes compiled in his honor.

The new volume underscores the rapid international growth of Srila Prabhupada’s movement over the last five decades. In 1969, the inaugural book contained just seventeen temple homages, with Hamburg and London as the only participating centers outside North Ameri

By Demian Martins

Srila Prabhupada’s appearance and accomplishments are a turning point not only in Gaudiya Vaisnavism, but in the very history of human civilization, so it is not surprising that they were predicted many centuries ago. In several ancient religious traditions, the sacred scriptures usually include passages or whole sections dealing with predictions. Some of these passages are marked by a veiled language and are often interpreted in different ways. Interpretations are subjective a

An excerpt from the Prabhupada Lilamrta about Srila Prabhupada’s mother, Srimati Rajani Devi.

Abhay’s mother, Rajani, was thirty years old when he was born. Like her husband, she came from a long-established Gaudiya Vaisnava family. She was darker-skinned than her husband, and whereas his disposition was cool, hers tended to be fiery. Abhay saw his mother and father living together peacefully; no deep marital conflict or complicated dissatisfaction ever threatened home. Rajani was chaste and re

We read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Ten, Chapter Two: “Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Krsna in the Womb.”

TEXT 18

tato jagan-mangalam acyutamsam
samahitam sura-sutena devi
dadhara sarvatmakam atma-bhutam
kastha yathananda-karam manastah

SYNONYMS

tatah—thereafter; jagat-mangalam—auspiciousness for all living entities in all the universes of the creation; acyuta-amsam—the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is never bereft of the six opulences, all of which are present in all His plenary expa

From Gopal Campu by Srila Jiva Goswami and and Ananda Vrindavan Campu by Kavi Karnapura

In Gopal Campu Srila Jiva Goswami describes that the father of Nanda and Upnanda was Sri Parjanya who was chief of the cowherds in the lineage of the Yadus. Sri Parjanya had five sons. When he retired from family life he installed his eldest son Sri Upnanda as heir. Upnanda accepted the title in accordance with his father’s wish but he immediately deferred the title of chief to his younger brother Sri Nanda.

Gargamuni said: This child, the son of Rohini, will give all happiness to His relatives and friends by His transcendental qualities. Therefore He will be known as Rama. And because He will manifest extraordinary bodily strength, He will also be known as Bala. Moreover, because He unites two families—Vasudeva’s family and the family of Nanda Maharaja—He will be known as Sankarnana.

sri-garga uvaca
ayam hi rohini-putro
ramayan suhrdo gunaih
akhyasyate rama iti
baladhikyad balam viduh
yadunam aprt

Today is the appearance day of Lord Balarama, the Personality of Godhead who is the first expansion of Lord Krishna, the original Personality of Godhead. Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita (4.7):

yada yada hi dharmasya
  glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
  tadatmanam srjamy aham

“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.”

Krishna says, srjamy aham: “I manifest Myself

Vakresvara Pandita, the fifth branch of the tree, was a very dear servant of Lord Caitanya’s. He could dance with constant ecstasy for seventy-two hours.

(Adi 10.17)

In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, verse 71, it is stated that Vakresvara Pandita was an incarnation of Aniruddha, one of the quadruple expansions of Visnu (Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Aniruddha and Pradyumna). He could dance wonderfully for seventy-two continuous hours.

When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu played in dramatic performances in the ho

From her childhood Princess Sachi devi, the daughter of King Naresh Narayana of Bengal, showed unalloyed devotion to Lord Sri Krishna. She even refused to marry on account of her genuine attachment to Krishna. After her father’s demise she ruled the kingdom. But she soon renounced it to find a bona fide spiritual master.

Princess Sachi devi met Sri Haridasa Pandit, a leading guru in Vrndavana, and began performing devout bhajana to Govindaji. Although she became frail from under-eating, she wou

She was the only daughter of King Naresanarayana of Puntiya in the district of Rajsahi (now in Bangladesh).
During her childhood she was called Saci.
She was endowed with a religious temperament from youth and within a short time Saci became conversant with Vyakarana, Kavya and various scriptures.

When Saci grew up, her beauty and grace charmed everyone.
However, Saci felt no attraction for any man however handsome or wealthy he may be.
Her heart belonged to her Madanagopala.
When she came to k

Srivasa’s niece was only four years old. Her name was Narayani. She was just seating peacefully in the corner of the room. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu cried out “Narayani! Chant Krsnas name and cry in ecstatic love.” And little Narayani called out “Oh! Krsna, oh! Krsna, oh! Krsna…” and tears just irrupted from her eyes profusely, soaking her body, her limbs trembled and she felt to the ground just crying out “oh! Krsna.” But the devotees saw that they understood the power of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

Before Lord Caitanya appeared He sent His eternal associates like Sri Advaita Acarya, Sri Jagannatha Misra, Saci Mata, Madhavendra Puri, Isvari Puri to earth. Sri Madhavendra Puri took initiation from Sri Laksmipati Tirtha in the Madhvacarya sampradaya.

He had many but Sri Advaita Acarya and Sri Isvara Puri were the chief disciples of Madhavendra Puri. In one way or another, all the Vaisnavas in Bengal and Ksetra mandala (Jagan­natha Puri) were connected with Sri Madhavendra Puri. After Lord Ca