The North American ISKCON yatra has much to thank her for. Her devotional services have had profoundly positive influences on our devotee communities for many, many years. Notably, Krsnanandini dd led the Grhasta Vision Team for two decades. The GVT is a North American Vaishnava grassroots organization dedicated to enlivening and strengthening the Grhasta ashram and spiritually- based family life in general. She coined the phrase Strong Families = Strong ISKCON. Her dedication to this cause profoundly assisted so many devotees for many years.

It is with deep sadness that we offer our respects and condolences to HG Jasomatinandan Prabhu's family, friends, and to all those who benefitted from his association and leadership in Krishna consciousness. Jasomatinandan Prabhu was one of the rare souls who despite having every material opulence: birth in a brahmana family, great intelligence, youth, material comforts, etc., eagerly surrendered it all to the service of his spiritual master His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and indeed, the service of humanity at large.

A wonderful 1973 letter by His Grace Yasomatinandana Prabhu to Srila Prabhupada in which he requests Prabhupada for the service of translating his books into Gujarati after excellently glorifying Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada was pleased with the letter and ordered to publish it in Back To Godhead

HG Jasomatinandana Prabhu joined ISKCON in America, where Srila Prabhupada instructed him to develop the Krishna Consciousness Movement in Gujarat, India. Thus he pioneered the ISKCON movement in Gujarat. He was the President of ISKCON Ahmedabad and the Regional Secretary of Gujarat. His contributions are unfathomable.

Jasomatinandana Prabhu, Prabhupada’s initiated disciple passed away at approximately 5 PM IST today, Saturday the 24th of October, 2020.As most of you know, he had not been keeping good health for the last few years. He had been infected with Covid-19 nearly two weeks back and had been admitted to the hospital in Ahmedabad. Jasomatinandana Prabhu who joined ISKCON in America was instructed by Srila Prabhupada to go to India and develop Krishna Consciousness in Gujarat.

I served on Radha-Damodar Traveling Sankirtan Party for the next three years as a bus leader. Tamal Krishna Goswami was a hard taskmaster, but he was able to motivate me like no one had done before, and in turn, I was able to motivate others. He saw something of my potential for service, and I had faith and appreciation for him. As bus leader I had to call him from the field once a week, and those calls either left me tearful because I had let him down or elated because he was pleased. He had a powerful effect on my life that has been with me ever since. By 1979, the Radha-D...

HH Tamal Krishna Goswami served as ISKCON Governing Body Commissioner from 1970-2002, and ISKCON Initiating Spiritual Master from 1977-2002. In January 1972, he accepted the renounced order of life, sannyasa, in Jaipur. He served as India’s GBC Secretary from 1970–74 and as trustee of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, overseeing sales in the USA from 1977-2002. He is fondly called “Srila Gurudeva” by his many disciples and “Goswami” by his godbrothers and members of the academe.

Gunagrahi Maharaja gave everything he had to Srila Prabhupada. He served ISKCON continuously for forty-nine years. He was a master at engaging people in Krishna consciousness. He made friends quickly and for life. He was largely responsible for the successful spreading of Krishna consciousness among the straight-edge youth. He didn't complain and he didn't lament. He had a flair for designing tasteful and novel ways of presenting Krishna consciousness. He innovated ...

HH Gunagrahi Goswami Maharaja, my very oldest devotee friend, the munificent kind soul who made me a devotee, passed away this morning just before 4 AM this morning. He was surrounded by loving godbrothers and devotees, singing the holy names loudly and in ecstasy. He had been unconscious since the afternoon .. but when the end was eminent I was screaming the mahamantra into his ear and each time he would respond. He was such a kind loving devotee. A radiant star has stopped shining in this world .. but now glows brilliantly in Goloka Vrindavan. All glories to my belov...

You have always been most kind and a dear friend to me and so many others. When we met in 1978 you had established the beautiful San Diego temple and were transitioning to being the bhakta leader so you could concentrate on recruiting and training new devotees there. As I had the same service in Los Angeles, we naturally began visiting and calling each other regularly to compare notes. During those turbulent days in ISKCON following Srila Prabhupada's departure you wer...

My dear Daruka, do not be unhappy because of the destruction of the Yadu dynasty, or the disappearance of Lord Balarama. Become patient and fixed in actual knowledge. These calamities are simply an illusory show, fabricated by My internal potency. There is no need to become agitated because of these so-called catastrophes.

As a founder director of Bhaktivedanta Institute, HH Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami, was able to lay the foundation of the Bhaktivedanta Institute under Srila Prabhupada's direct guidance. During Srila Prabhupada's final days and even before that HH Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami was very enthusiastic and had adopted versatile and dynamic approach to reach to intellectual community. And Srila Prabhupada very much approved and appreciated it. There are several conversations between them in this regard. Thereafter, for nearly three decades, HH Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swam...

A lot of times when we talk about ISKCON, people think that it’s just an organization, and organizations have so many problems, and I am devoted to Prabhupada, but not to ISKCON. Bhakti Charu Swami never made that distinction, he didn’t want us to make that distinction. He made it very clear that if you are criticizing ISKCON, you are criticizing Prabhupada. If you love Prabhupada, you will work to make ISKCON better. That’s really important because as ISKCON grows, there will always be people who will make that distinction - I am devoted to Prabhupada but I just don’t like ISKCON, I...

Questions of auspicious or inauspicous deaths, devotional status, popularity, etc. are irrelevant. The bhakta has already transcended these considerations. Parikshit died by the bite of snake-bird “Let the snake bird bite me at once. I only desire that all of you continue reciting the glorious divine acts of Lord Vishnu.” Srila Prabhupada has addressed this issue of how unimportant auspicious elements are or the manner of death: However, for the pure devotee in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no fear of returning, whether he leaves the body at an auspicious or inauspicious moment, by ...

A three-day festival will be held in Sri Dham Mayapur to inaugurate the samadhi which will soon be under construction. On February 25th, we will celebrate Nityananda Trayodasi. On February 26th, Maharaja’s samadhi will be officially inaugurated with a day-long event including auspicious Vedic rituals, kirtans, remembrances, and feasts. On the following day, February 27th, Srila Prabhupada will enter the TOVP in his murti form and the seva-puja of His Divine Grace will commence in the new temple.

As we all know, death is inevitable. Maharaja's disciples will undoubtedly be aggrieved beyond words. We must remember Srila Prabhupada's instructions on Guru-tattva at this moment. Prabhupada had explained several times that the guru is present in two forms - Vapu and Vani. Prabhupada had also explained that Vani is more important than Vapu. With regards to his own spiritual master, Prabhupada remarks in his dedication in the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam - "He lives forever by his divine instructions and the follower lives with him".

From our Lord Krsna’s perspective the departure of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja was timely and planned. From our perspective it was untimely, unexpected and contrary to what we fervently prayed for. It was not what we wanted nor want we expected. For us, and in particular, for you as his disciples and followers, it can be considered as a “sudden death”: there was no poor prognosis, there was no terminal illness, and there was no extended period to prepare. And for those of you who prayed across the globe for Maharaja’s recovery may have found yourself perplexed that your...

In Ujjain: “You choose to paint as the cover of the book a picture of your heart,” I almost asked him to confess. No words replied he only sighed a soft and thoughtful “yes.”

Since writing my tribute to His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja, I’ve read so many beautiful memorials that eloquently glorify his exalted, excruciatingly sweet personality, his softhearted dealings, his vast knowledge of scripture, his tremendous accomplishments, the pure devotion he had for and intimate personal service he rendered to Srila Prabhupada considering the short time he spent with him, and so on. Then I remembered the foreword he wrote to Srila Prabhupada the Founder-Acaraya of ISKCON and how influential Maharaja was during its inception.

When I heard the news of Maharaja having tested positive for COVID-19, I was left speechless. Daily at that time of the morning I am on a zoom Japa conference. I made the announcement to the participants in much disbelief. I checked again with my disciples if this message was in fact authentic and a part of me feverishly hoped that there was some error or this was just fake news. I could not concentrate on any of my services and had difficulty in following the daily routine for the rest of the day and several days thereafter. I was very disturbed and disheartened. All that I could think o...

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.

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.

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 ...