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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

A Talk by Giriraj Swami

December 19, 2005

San Diego

We are gathered on the most auspicious occasion of the disappearance anniversary of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja Prabhupada, the spiritual master of our Srila Prabhupada. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was born in Jagannatha Puri as the son of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who was a magistrate and the superintendent of the Jagannatha temple in Puri. At that time, during the British rule, the position

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, is my grand spiritual master, but I feel that I never really knew him very well until I read his biography Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, by my godbrother Bhakti Vikasa Swami. Many of the quotes and references below come from that work.

We are all here by the mercy of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There’s a line through which the mercy desce

Paramahamsa Srila Gaura Kishore Das Babaji Maharaj was born into a vaishya family on the banks of the Padma River in Bagayan village in Faridpur district in what is now Bangladesh. His given name was Vamsi Das. He was born sometime in the middle of the nineteenth century. He is important to us because he was the diksha guru of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada. Vamsi Das’s parents had him married at an early age according to the custom of the time, but he always remained detache

By Giriraj Swami

Today is the disappearance day of Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji was a great devotee - a maha-bhagavata. He was a disciple of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and was very renounced. He had lived for many years in Vrindavan, roaming the twelve forests, chanting the holy names of Krishna, eating by begging alms, and sleeping under trees. Later, after Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura discovered Lord Chaitanya’s birthplace in Mayapur, Srila Jagannatha da

Narottama Dasa Thakura wrote many devotional songs about the spiritual master, the Devotees, devotional service, the six Goswamis, Gaura-Nityananda and Radha-Krishna. Although composed with sweet melodies in simple Bengali language, Narottama Dasa’s songs give shastric siddhanta and devotional inspiration. 

Srila Prabhupada often sang these bhajanas. Considering them non-different from Vedic shastra, He quoted them in his Bhagavatam lectures. Prarthana and Prema-bhakti-chandrika are Narottama’s

Sri Narottama Das Thakur

NAROTTAMA VILASA
By Narahari dasa

Translated by Dravida Das

THE FIRST VILASA

Oh! Supreme Lord Visvambhara, You are the husband of the goddess of fortune, and my eternal friend. Only You are capable of distributing the wealth of love of Godhead. You are known as kindhearted to those who depend upon You, therefore, oh Lord, please shower You kindness upon me.

I worship Sri Lokanatha Prabhu, who is fully surrendered to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Vinode. He is the life

By Sri Nandanandana

Narottama Dasa Thakura was a lifelong brahmacari. He visited all the holy places and the was the best of pure devotees. On the banks of the Padmavati river, in the town of Gopalpura lived King Krsnanda Datta. His older brother was Purusottama Datta. The wealth and fame of these two brothers was beyond compare. King Krsnananda’s son was Sri Santosa Datta. In the month of Magha, onthe day of sukla-pancami, Sri Narottama Dasa Thakura took his birth. Seeing many auspicious omens

In around 1503 AD, Raghunath Bhattacharya appeared as the son of Tapana Mishra, a dear devotee of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who hailed from the village of Ramapura on the banks of the Padma River in East Bengal.

Mahaprabhu first met Tapana Mishra when he went to East Bengal during his career as a teacher of Sanskrit. Tapana Mishra had studied many scriptures but was still bewildered about the purpose of life and what to do to attain it. He had a dream in which he was instructed by a Brahmin to go

Today is the auspicious disappearance day of three great acharyas in the Gaudiya-Vaishnava sampradaya: Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, and Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami. We shall read about Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami from Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja’s Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Chapter Thirteen: “Pastimes with Jagadananda Pandita and Raghunatha Bhatta.”

TEXT 89

etha tapana-misra-putra raghunatha-bhattacarya
prabhure de

Sri Haridas Thakur is an eternally liberated associate of the Lord. The associates of the Lord are worship-able wherever they make their appearance.

Just as Garuda appeared as a bird, and Hanuman as a monkey, Haridas Thakur appeared in a family of Yavanas. From his very birth he was very deeply devoted to the Holy Names of Sri Krsna and later became known as “Nama Acarya.”

When Lord Caitanya went to Jagannatha Puri, Haridas also went and took up residence there. Everyday, after attending Lord

Today is the divine disappearance day of Namacharya Haridasa Thakura. So we shall read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Chapter Eleven: “The Passing of Haridasa Thakura.”

INTRODUCTION

The summary of this chapter is given by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Amrta-pravaha-bhasya as follows. In this chapter it is described how Brahma Haridasa Thakura gave up his body with the consent of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and how the Lord Himself personally performed the funeral ceremony and carried

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

One day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu met Haridasa Thakura as usual, and in the course of discussion He inquired as follows.’My dear Thakura Haridasa, in this age of Kali most people are bereft of Vedic culture, and therefore they are called yavanas. They are concerned only with killing cows and brahminical culture. In this way they all engage in sinful acts. How will these yavanas be delivered? To My great unhappiness, I do not see any way. His

We read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter 19:

TEXT 1

vrndavaniyam rasa-keli-vartam
  kalena luptam nija-saktim utkah
sancarya rupe vyatanot punah sa
  prabhur vidhau prag iva loka-srstim

TRANSLATION

Before the creation of this cosmic manifestation, the Lord enlightened the heart of Lord Brahma with the details of the creation and manifested the Vedic knowledge. In exactly the same way, the Lord, being anxious to revive the Vrndavana pastimes of Lord Krsna, impregnated the heart