I was fortunate to be with Srila Prabhupada in 1975 when Prabhupada was here in Mayapur for Gaura-purnima in March. I am going to try to give just a little bit of an idea of being with Prabhupada and some of the things that Srila Prabhupada was seeing.

The situation in Navadvip and the whole of India that time was that people were religious but they were not spiritual. They were religious just to show on the outside but actually they did not know the purpose of religion. People spent a lot to marry off their daughter, to put on a big show to show that they were very religious. One such wealthy had no more daughters to marry off then he married a female cat or a female dog or some demigod. So this was not even in scripture. Marriage is for human beings. Like that they were doing all sorts of bogus religious activities just to show off. T...

So today the auspicious day of the appearance day of Lord Nityananda. We will attempt to speak some of the glories of Lord Nityananda for the pleasure of the devotees. Lord Nityananda appeared in Ekacakra dhama. Lord Nityananda was the son of Hadai Ojha and Padmavati. Hadai Ojha was brahmana. Padmavati was the daughter of a king, Mukuta Roy. I had the opportunity last week of going to some of the places around Ekacakra with HH Bhakti Nityananda Swami. Of cours...

May Sri Nityananda Rama be the object of my constant remembrance. Sankarsana, Sesa Naga and the Visnus who lie on the Karana Ocean, Garbha Ocean and ocean of milk are His plenary portions and the portions of His plenary portions

So this is one of the two verses which are used in the beginning of Caitanya-caritamrta by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami to introduce us to Advaita Acarya. The chapter then goes on to explain how Advaita Acarya is the second branch of the tree of Caitanya Mahaprabhu - the first branch of course being Lord Nityananda and the main trunk being Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself.

To release the dormant love within our heart is only possible by the grace of the Lords Hladini Shakti, his pleasure potency Srimati Radharani, She holds the key that can unlock the deepest mysteries of the soul. But it is natural that which is most rare, most inconceivable is often misunderstood. When you go into Air India, sometimes you see on the walls painted Rasa Lila and there is Radharani dancing. And people; that are our tradition Radha and Krishna, but it is a very deep subject. That i...

Krishna has no father, He has no mother. But He appears in this world with a father and with a mother in almost every incarnation as a wonderful pastime to exchange love with His devotees and to attract our hearts to Him. So Krishna, the original personality of Godhead in the spiritual world expands Himself as Balaram, His first expansion. And Balaram is non-different than Krishna Himself. There is absolutely no difference. But as Balaram, Krishna assists Himself in His loving pastimes. So when...

There are different incarnations or appearances of Lord Varahadev. Previously the white boar incarnation has been described. The one that is in the Bhagavatam as we receive it is the story about the red incarnation and His fight with the demon Hiranyaksha. So it is an interesting history and one that is very instructive for the devotees because it is a narrative of people feeling sorry. The history is Diti was feeling unusually lusty. She was feeling impelled to the point where she los...

Srila Prabhupada spoke about this in 1977. This is exactly 40 years ago in Bhubaneshwar, right? He spoke about Varaha’s appearance. He said “Ramadi murti su kala niyamena.” Krishna, the original adi pursua, is taking various forms. Ramadi murtisu, especially three Ramas, Parasuram, Balaram and Dasarathi Rama. Rama means enjoyment. Krishna’s enjoyment does not mean that when Krishna appeared as a boar he was suffering. Everything is “Anada- cinmaya-rasa- pratibhavitabhih,” every second is imbued and permeated with ever...

In the Caitanya Bhagavata there is a description how one day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had been hearing the glories of Lord Varaha. And while He was relishing the mood of Lord Varaha, He came to the home of Murari Gupta. And at time He chanted the name Sukara! Sukara! Which is boar! Boar! Right? its the name of the boar, Sanskrit for boar. So He chanted the name of Sukara and then He actually, Lord Caitanya actually assumed the form of Lord Varaha while He was in the home of Murari Gupta.

He saw there the all-powerful Personality of Godhead in His boar incarnation, bearing the earth upward on the ends of His tusks and robbing him of his splendor with His reddish eyes. The demon laughed: Oh, an amphibious beast!

Purnacandra Maharaja would oftentimes keep his firm commitment to substance even at the risk of being unpopular. He was not at all interested in winning some popularity contest. He was interested in preserving that which was passed on to him by his spiritual master. Purnacandra Maharaja didn't need large crowds to be satisfied sharing what he had learned and what he attained in his Krsna Consciousness. He would share his Krsna Consciousness even with a small group of devotees, or even with o...

Among social reformers and spiritual teachers of the past, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu stands out. Today, in a period of great cynicism, lack of faith in leadership, and growing tension between peoples and cultures of the world, Mahaprabhu offers us a practical formula for social renewal and self awareness.

Today is Gaura-purnima day. The purnima, the full moon of the month of phalgun. These two months, phalgun and caitra is the vasanta season, springtime in India. In India there are six seasons and each season consists of two months.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared on the full-moon day of the month of Phalguna in Sri Navadvipa-dhama in western Bengal. He manifested His pastimes on earth for forty-eight years. For the first twenty-four years, in Navadvipa, He played the role of a child, then of a youth, and then of a married man; for the next six years He traveled throughout India and preached; and for the final eighteen years He resided in Jagannatha Puri. Every year at the time of caturmasya, the four months of the rainy season, devotees from Bengal used to come to Puri to associate per...

Nityananda prabhu then told Suridas Thakur look as a dowry I want your younger daughter. So this is how Nityananda prabhu got married to 2 sisters Janava devi and Vasuda devi. Janava devi, as you know didn’t have any children. But Vasuda devi bore some children of Nityananda Prabhu and most prominent of them is Birachandra. Bir Chandra prabhu was very, very dear to Nityananda prabhu and he took up the mission of Nityananda prabhu and Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He did extensive preaching all over throughout Bengal those days. Of course, as y...

Our proposition is to the Ramanujacarya followers because they are very, very strong, especially in South India they are prominent, purifying all of the world actually. It is mentioned in the Bhagavatam that when pure devotees appear in South India they then maintain the pure principles of bhakti.

Resolutions hold promises of a better year, but do we really need them? Aren’t we doing just fine? Why does everyone always start something just to lose it a week later? So for our New Year’s resolutions, we can resolve to increase our chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, especially on beads, and our reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books. And we can resolve to decrease, or stop, activities detrimental to Krishna consciousness. And in our efforts, the Lord will help us, for God helps those ...

In the western coast of India, in the island of Salmali, lived Dronachala, the king of the mountains. Once a sage by the name of Pulastya Muni, came to him to take his son Giriraja with him to Kashi (Varanasi). After offering some initial resistance, Giriraja, somehow agreed to go with him only on condition that he should not put him down on the earth in between. If he does so, he would stay there forever. When they were flying over the Vraja bhumi, Giriraja increased his weight to the extent that...

The “American Dream” is built on the presumption of free will: If we try hard enough and work smart enough, we can reach our goals. Yet karma and destiny are some of the biggest influences in our life. Now new findings in neuroscience have a lot to say about free will vs. determination.

Madhvacarya's advent was principally to counter and defeat the Mayavad conclusions. In South India despite Ramanujacarya's aggressive preaching for many years and very potent dissemination of the principle of pure bhakti there was still Mayavad that was well entrenched. And the Mayavadis were also becoming very aggressive and they were spreading like anything everywhere. So Madhvacarya's purpose of advent was essentially to be like a connecting link between Sankara and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu if one looks at it like that.

It is explained in the fifth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam in the fourteenth chapter - it is called the forest of material enjoyment. What is the enjoyment. Enjoyment in the forest is simply a hard struggle. Therefore according to how one approaches the material enrgy or how one connects with the material energy one is struggling in a different way. Here Srila Prabhupada pints out that it is darkness. Darkness indicates ignorance, forgetfulness. Ingorance is also menti...

Who we think we are—our ego—affects every single aspect of our lives. In Sanskrit, our present ego is called ahankara, and that ahankara is described as the basis of our existence in this world. Spiritual practices focus on adjusting our sense of self, transforming the ahankara. Let's discuss that ego: Who we think we are, how we got to our present sense of self, who Krishna says we should think we are, and how to get there—a place of true satisfaction and freedom.