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By Giriraj Swami

On the occasion of Sri Madhavendra Puri’s disappearance day, we share two verses and purports from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta which, by Sri Madhavendra Puri and Srila Prabhupada’s causeless mercy, may help us progress in Krishna consciousness.
jaya sri madhavapuri krsna-prema-pura
bhakti-kalpatarura tenho prathama ankura
“All glories to Sri Madhavendra Puri, the storehouse of all devotional service unto Krsna! He is a desire tree of devotional service, and it is in him that the se

By Giriraj Swami 

Today is the auspicious disappearance day of Sri Madhavendra Puri, the grand spiritual master of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Madhavendra Puri’s disciple Isvara Puri was accepted by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as His spiritual master. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is Himself the origin of all knowledge—perfect, Vedic knowledge—and He had no need to accept a spiritual master. But because He was playing the part of a devotee, to set the example for other

Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj appeared in this world at a village in a part of India which is now Bangladesh. He was born in a wealthy family. 

Later in his life he was initiated by Jagadananda Goswami. His guru was in the line of Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. One of our very great Acharyas. 

Srila Jagannath Das Babaji was a perfect devotee. In the holy place, Vrindavan, he had a little hut, a bhajan kutir. He would sometimes chant there for three days and nights, without stopping. He woul

“Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja was respected by all the Vaisnava community and was thus known as Vaisnava Sarvabhauma, or chief amongst the Vaisnavas. There are some nice stories connecting him with the finding of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s birthplace recorded in Sri Navadwipa Dhama Mahatmya.

Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja was born around the year 1800 AD. He spent many years in Vrndavana where he became famous as a perfect devotee, though more than this is not known of his early

Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja comes in the Gaudiya Vaishnava disciplic succession after Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. He was a renounced ascetic, fully engaged in chanting the holy names of Krishna and meditating on the pastimes of Krishna. For some time he made his residence at Surya-kunda in Vraja-dhama, near the temple of Suryadeva, where Srimati Radharani used to come and worship the sun-god—or, I should say, where She used to come to meet Kris

gauravirbhava bhumes twam nirdesta sajjana priyah

vaisnava sarvabhauma sri jagannathaya te namah

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja, who is respected by the entire Vaisnava community and who discovered the place where Lord Caitanya appeared.”

Sri Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja was born was born around the year 1800 AD.

in the Mayamansingh district of West Bengal. Not much is known about his ealry life. Gaudiya Vedanta-acharya Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushana h

Today is the disappearance day of Sri Isvara Puri. He was such a perfect disciple of Sri Madhavendra Puri that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Krishna Himself, was pleased to accept him as his spiritual master. Later, Lord Chaitanya visited Isvara Puri’s birthplace at Kumara-hatta and collected some earth from the birth site, which He kept very carefully and ate a small portion of daily. Thus He showed us how a faithful disciple worships a spiritual master who has faithfully served his spiritual

Srimad Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami writes: “All glories to Madhavendra Puri, the storehouse of all  Krishna-prema! He is a desire tree of bhakti, and it is to him that the seed of bhakti first fructified. The seed of Krishna-prema next fructified in the for of Sri Ishvara Puri, and then the gardener himself, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, became the main trunk of the tree of bhakti.

Isvara Puri was born in the town of Kumara Hatta on the full moon day of the month of Jyestha to a family of Brahmins haili

On the all-auspicious disappearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati we should all try to remember His divine instructions and make them our life and soul – guru mukha parma vakhya cittete koriya aikhya ara na koriho mane asa. This philosophy that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati epitomises and that he expounded is well worth remembering on this day when the prediction of Padma Purana –
sri-brahma-rudra-sanaka vaisnavah ksiti savannah
catvaras te kalau bhavya hy utkale purusottamat

“In Kal

By Giriraj Swami

Today is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada’s appearance day. We have heard about His Divine Grace already. Today is also the disappearance day of HH Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja. He left on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s appearance day.

I remember the first time we celebrated Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s appearance day. I was a new devotee in Boston temple in early 1970, and Srila Prabhupada instructed us how to observe the appearance day of the spiritual

By Madhavananda Das
From chapter 15 of When Good Fortune Arises

“I MAY LEAVE”
.
Shortly after hearing his comments following the 1995 GBC meetings, a couple of disciples of Gour Govinda Maharaja approached their spiritual master: “Guru Maharaja, we don’t need these people. We can leave ISKCON and start our own society. You have so many disciples, it won’t be any problem.”
.
Hearing their suggestion, Gour Govinda Swami became very grave. Shaking his head no, he said, “The only way I will leave I

Today is the disappearance anniversary of Sripada Ramanujacharya, the principal acharya in the Sri, or Lakshmi, sampradaya. In a letter dated November 22, 1974, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “We find great shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Ramanujacharya because his lotus feet are the strongest fort to combat the Mayavadi philosophy.” And in the early days of ISKCON in India, before we had Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is in Hindi, Prabhupada would refer people to read the Hindi edition of th

Shri Ramachandra Kaviraja was the disciple of Shrinivasa Acharya Prabhu and the very intimate friend of Narottama dasa Thakura. His father was Chiranjiva Sena and Mother Shri Sunanda. Chiranjiva was originally an inhabitant of Kumara nagar but after marrying the daughter of Shri Damodara Kavi he moved to Shri Khanda.

“Chiranjiva Sena was a pure Devotee very much loved by Narahari Sarkar and the other residents of Shri Khanda. He was extremely learned in all matters and his wife was very chaste a

In Vraja there was a dancer named Candrahasa who was very expert in the tasting of rasa. In Chaitanya-lila, he became Jagadisa Pandit who also took great pleasure in dancing for the Lord. (Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 143)

Jagadisa Pandit is considered to be simultaneously both Nityananda-shakha and Chaitanya-shakha, a branch both of Chaitanya as well as Nityananda in the desire tree of devotion. He was born in the town of Gauhati (Pragjyotishpur) in modern Assam. 

His father’s name was Kamalaksha Bh

By Giriraj Swami

Today is the disappearance day of Srila Jiva Gosvami, one of the Six Gosvamis of Vrndavana, direct disciples of Lord Chaitanya. Srila Prabhupada writes, “Srila Jiva Gosvami composed and edited at least twenty-five books. They are all very much celebrated . . . After the disappearance of Srila Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami in Vrndavana, Srila Jiva Gosvami became the acarya of all the Vaisnavas in Bengal, Orissa, and the rest of the world, and it is he who used to guide them

“Sri Jagadisa Pandita is the savior of the world. He distributes the nectar of love of Krsna just like a dense mass of dark clouds in the sky distributes rainfall.” [C.C. Adi 11.30]

Sri Jagadisa Bhatta took his birth in the region of Gauhati. His father’s name was Sri Kamalaksa Bhatta, who was the son of Bhatta Narayana, who hailed from Goyghar Bandyaghata. Both the mother and father of Jagadisa were very devoted Visnu-bhaktas. After his parents passed away he came with his wife to live on the

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten describes the branches of the tree named Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

TEXT 1

sri-caitanya-padambhoja-
  madhupebhyo namo namah
kathancid asrayad yesam
  svapi tad-gandha-bhag bhavet

TRANSLATION

Let me repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto the beelike devotees who always taste the honey of the lotus feet of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If even a doggish nondevotee somehow takes shelter of such devotees, he enjoys the aroma of the lotus flower.

PURPORT

Yamuna-devi—Serving Vani and Vapuh

There is so much to be said about Srimati Yamuna-devi dasi!

In October of 1970 I was one of a group of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples from America going to join him in India. On the way, we stopped in Brussels, and it was there, in an apartment, that I first met Yamuna-devi—and Malati and Shyamasundar (I had met Gurudas before, in Boston). Upon entering, I could immediately feel their intense, extraordinary devotion to Srila Prabhupada—it was so palpable, so tang