Tag Archives: ISKCON Punjabi Bagh

Maha-bhagavat- HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj

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Hare Krishna and pranams dear devotees,

Today I wish to write about one of the most senior and respected leader of ISKCON HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj.

During my initial days I heard HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj’s name often. I also had the good fortune to attend some of maharaj’s lectures at Punjabi Bagh. I was new and had no idea about Maharaj’s stature. I just knew that whenever maharaj would visit ISKCON Punjabi Bagh Temple, there was always more activity and extra enthusiasm in the devotees. But then the same was also the case when some other senior Sanyasis would come to the temple. I know maharaj was special but how special I didn’t know. I found maharaj’s lectures very simple, yet he had a special potency with which he will drill that simple message deep in my heart. HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj came across as a very humble and sincere sanyasi. That was my initial impression.

As I progressed a little in my spiritual journey and saw Maharaj, my respect for him grew by each day. Every time I would see maharaj, I would somehow try to get his attention in a polite manner. I would see Maharaj at Vrindavan, often at the mangal arti. As I heard more about HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj from my Guru Maharaj and other sanyasis my respect and greed to meet him grew every day.

Last year I was fortunate to receive a small gift from Maharaj, along with many others devotees, for service during the Book distribution Marathon,  as HG Rukmini Prabhuji called me and introduced Maharaj to me, Maharaj told me that he would like to speak to me. Few months later I got a chance the meet maharaj for few minutes at Punjabi Bagh temple. In that meeting HH Gopal Krishna Maharaj asked me about myself and how I became a devotee. When I shared that one of my friend gave me Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita and my life changed.  In a very innocent manner maharaj smiled and replied how by simply reading Bhagavad Gita his life changed, this shows the potency of Bhagavad Gita ‘as it is’ and the need to distribute it. Maharaj asked me the name of the person who gave me Bhagavad Gita. Then to my utter shock Maharaj said he would like to meet my friend and thank him!

(p.s.- Maharaj did meet that friend, Mukul Harmilapi, after a few months and thanked him personally!)

I still hankered for a personal meeting with Maharaj but no such chance came as whenever I saw him he was always surrounded with devotees and I knew I stood no chance to catch maharaj’s attention among so many senior and sincere devotees.

Then on the day before Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day I saw Maharaj twice in Vrindavan. First as I carried the Palanquin carrying Srila Prabhupada deity, Maharaj walked right in front of me for some time. Then the same day as I was assisting in serving lunch to senior devotees in the Balaram hall,  in walked maharaj! I was so happy just to see maharaj walking in. Maharaj took prasadam. he ate very light. I tried to serve some vegetables and later some sweets but maharaj did not took anything else, but for me I had served Maharaj.

I saw maharaj many times during Kartik at Vrindavan. Strange as it may sound but every time I see Maharaj my hankering to meet him personally grows and I like him more and more at a personal level. Without actually knowing maharaj I seem to develop  faith and relationship with Maharaj.

I also hear with awe as Sumeet Prabhu would explain me regularly his meetings with maharaj, he seem to meet maharaj every other month with ease, his family was close to Maharaj. While we were speaking about various sanyasis and glorifying them, we again came back to discuss HH Gopal Krishna Maharaj. We remembered how HH Janananda Maharaj glorified maharaj the other day at Vrindavan, when we went to meet him. He said sanyasis like HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, Bhakti Charu Maharaj, Jayapataka Maharaj, RadhaNath Swami are all pure and special souls and without special mercy of Srila Prabhupada they can’t do what they are achieving. He specially glorified Maharaj as maharaj handles all the tricky challenges in Russia and is also in change of all the big temples being constructed, still has strong Sadhna Bhakti and time for deity worship.

I remember HG Rukmini Prabhuji telling us early this year in one of the lectures that when asked what is Maharaj’s secret, HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj replied ‘Strong morning Program‘ ! A simple statement which underlines Maharaj’s message and instruction for all of us.

Sumeet Prabhu told me a very interesting incident. When his father was not initiated, he helped HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj to get a bank loan sanctioned from IOB Bank where he used to work. During one of the meetings Maharaj glorified his father, thanked him and folded his hands as a matter of respect. Later Summet Prabhu’s brother, who was maharaj’s initiated disciple, told Maharaj that maharaj should not have offered so much respect to his father as it was their duty to serve in this spiritual movement. Maharaj replied that there were many reasons why he did it

1.  His father has not surrendered to Maharaj, only the son.

2.  His father was an elder person in age and therefore must be respected as per material world norms

3.  He helped in Prabhupada’s mission which is the savior of mankind; such people who help in this process should be profusely thanked

4.  By showing etiquette of folding hands, it creates softness in heart and respect for ISKCON.

We can learn so much from maharaj as to how to practice  humility and Vaishanava etiquette. I thought that I uselessly read books and try to find how to become humble when I can listen to Maharaj’s pastimes and learn directly from his behavior.

Few weeks back I found courage to request HG Vidur Priya Prabhuji to please request Maharaj to visit our new home and bless us with his lotus feet. Sumeet Prabhu told me that  it is very difficult because Maharaj has a very busy schedule and also as Maharaj has thousands of disciples in Delhi/NCR so it becomes difficult to please each disciple. Hence maharaj meets everyone at the local temple only. Logical, but I was hankering for his mercy. I thought some day I may get lucky. And as a bonus the hankering keeps Maharaj in my thoughts.

( p.s. – By the mercy of devotees, HH Gopal krishna Goswami Maharaj  finally showered his mercy upon us as maharaj visited our new home on Diwali eve. Maharaj was the first person to enter our new home, we shifted after maharaj’s visit)

I will try to please HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj by trying to serve devotees at Gurgaon and Punjabi Bagh temple with whatever little efforts I can do.

All glories to HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj.

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Your servant,

Giriraj dasa

p.s.- I wrote this blog originally in December 2013, this is a updated version.

Our blog turns 6!

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Hare Krishna Dear devotees,

Today morning I received a message from wordpress that today is the 6th anniversary of our blog site, forthepleasureoflordkrishna.com. It was a surprise for me as I felt that I started writing only 2-3 years back.

I tried to recall what prompted me to start writing a blog. It was a sharp urge within me to start writing. Before starting this blog I had never written anything in my whole life. I did my schooling from a Hindi medium school so my command over English language was quite poor and remains so even now. I was also shy and introvert. Still I felt a continuous urge to start writing. I did not know anyone in my circle who could help me so I searched on internet, found a site which gave step by step instructions on how to register a name for blog and start writing. It was a simple procedure even for a novice like myself.

I also checked the day when I wrote the first blog. The first blog is dated 23rd Aug 2013. The day before, 22nd August was the day Srila Prabhupada left for US and 21st August was Balaram Purnima, appearance day of Lord Balaram. I do not remember anything about the date but in all probability I would have started written the blog on 21st or 22nd August and would have posted it on 23rd August, without realising that the blog would show the date I posted rather than the one I started writing.

Today I also opened the first blog I wrote, reading it brought a smile on my face as I realised that I named this blog based on a SB lecture I heard from HG Rukmini Krishna prabhu, temple president of ISKCON Punjabi Bagh. In those days I used to go to ISKCON Punjabi Bagh temple twice a week, I would drive from Gurgaon to Delhi, hear Prabhuji’s lecture, honor prasadam, quickly change my clothes in the car and then rush to office, which at that time was a short drive from the Punjabi Bagh temple. Whatever little progress I have made in my spiritual journey is simply a gift from HG Rukmini Krishna Prabhu.

I remember my initial excitement when I started writing blogs on ISKCONDESIRETREE and seeing how many devotees have read it, they would show the no. of views on the blog. I did not know how many people are reading my main blog site as I did not know how to get access to this data. Once in a while it would show my blog as the blog of the month on ISKCONDESIRETREE and like a small kid I will approach HG Rukmini Krishna Prabhu and proudly show my ranking to him. Prabhuji was happy to see me finally engaged in some service and encouraged me like an affectionate father. Thank you so very much Rukmini Krishna prabhu, your approval and encouragement inspired me to continue to write.

Many devotees helped me in this effort. The foremost was my dear friend Shyamsundar Krishna prabhu, then Sumeet Gupta. He was happy to see me writing blogs and always left a comment for each blog I would post. He would call me after each blog and discuss it. Whenever I would seek his advice would give honest opinion on how to write properly. He knew my limitations but still encouraged to write. He also wrote a couple of blogs on this site. His encouragement meant a lot to me. Thank you Shyamsundar Krishna Prabhu, I will remain forever grateful to you for so many ways you helped me in this service.

Later I also started copying my blogs on dandavats and felt encouraged that I am able to serve more devotees. It was a big encouragement for me to see my blogs published on the same platform where articles written by so many senior devotees were published. Thank you dandavats team for posting my childish blogs. Then something changed again.

Due to pressure at office I suffered from lack of time. At the same time the wordpress software got updated multiple times, it became more complicated for me to write on blog, simple writing tools got vanished from the menu. My enthusiasm dwindled. I did not even renew site’s name, as a result the site went off the internet for few months. I was in double mind as to whether to continue to write on not.

Then I requested a very sincere and dear devotee in our group, Ronnie Prabhu, to help me out and he came forward. From finding small tools- how to justify a para, how to highlight a word in color, he would help me at any odd hour of the day. He also changed some settings and within few weeks the daily readership jumped 50%. All his efforts encouraged me to continue writing. Now for all practical purpose it is Ronnie prabhu is running this blog site, keeping tab on when to renew various registrations, which plugins to use, etc., for which I had no clue. I am simply writing, all the back-end is being managed by him. Thank you so very much Ronnie prabhu for all your support.

However it is all of you dear devotees and readers whose personal replies and comments on the blog kept me going. Without your response and encouragement this service would have stopped long time back. Thank you dear readers. Please feel free to leave your comments on the blog, write directly and give suggestions to improve the service.

Last but not the least I am most grateful to the lotus feet of My guru maharaj, all my shiksha gurus and to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, without their mercy there would be no inspiration, no writing and no blogs.

My spiritual journey started by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. It is his lectures which inspire me to read his books carefully. It is Srila Prabhupada’s mood which inspires me to share the knowledge with everyone. And it is the potency of Srila Prabhupada’s purports which which attract visitors to this blog site. It is simply my own shortcoming that I am unable to present his teachings ‘as it is’. Thank you Srila Prabhupada. On the occasion of your appearance day yesterday, I did not offer anything. I am now offering this blog site at your lotus feet. I pray and hope that this small service be somehow pleasing to you and your followers.

How have we done so far?

You be the judge. Here are few statistics, some are a surprise even for me. Till date we have posted 271 blogs, an average of 3.7 blogs per month. A total of 95,121 visitors from 170 countries visited the blog. The highest number are from India (59,944) and USA (46,146) and lowest from Ethiopia and Haiti (1 each). The number of times all the blogs have been viewed is 1,62,043. Currently the average view per days is 148. We have 482 subscribers. On August 23rd, two days before this Janmashtami, we had the highest ever single day viewership of 796 views. The top three blogs, not counting the home page, are Krishna’s flutes (9,058 views), Demons in Krishna’s pastimes (3,364 views) and Sambhanda Abhidheya and prayojana (3,313 views).

What’s next?

With your kind blessings we will try to post more nectar from Srila Prabhupada’s purports. We are also trying to upload Srila Prabhupada’s entire audio lectures, properly indexed to each verse, on the site, which you we will be able to easily link via a free app with your smartphone and hear Srila Prabhupada’s indexed audio lectures at your own convenience. Kindly bless us that we can continue this service. Thank you once again dear readers.

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

your servant,

Giriraj dasa

HG Madhavananda Prabhuji

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Hare Krishna.

14th December, 2013.

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It was wonderful to get a call from HG Achyut Hari Prabhuji to invite me at his home for a program by HG Madhavanada Prabhuji at his home in Gurgaon.

I have heard Prabhuji’s nectarean  lectures many times in the past at Punjabi Bagh temple as well as at Gurgaon. I also subscribed to the emagazine Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu which Prabhuji publishes and read some of his books as well. He is a blessed soul and a great devotee of the Lord and His servants and definitely has the double  mercy of Srila Prabhupada and HH Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj. I always look forward to hear his lectures.

Prabhuji’s introduction at www.iskcondesiretree.com reads as: Madhavananda Das, joined ISKCON in Los Angeles in 1982. He moved to Bhubaneswar Orissa in 1993 where he has been living since. He was instructed by Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja to edit his lectures into publications. For over ten years he has been serving as the director of ISKCON Gopal Jiu Publications, the editor of Sri Krishna Kathamrita Magazine, and the email magazine Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu. This short introduction does not do justice to Prabhuji, he is a very very humble and yet a scholar with in depth knowledge, specially Gaur Lila at Jaganannath Puri Dhama. Prabhuji serves Srila Prabhupada and HH Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja with utmost sincerity and dedication. His bhajans take us away from the material world and into the spiritual world.

As I paid my obeisances to Prabhuji , my mind went straight to Jagannath Puri and in mind I went to Jagannath temple, entered inside, stood in the que and then finally got the darshan of the Lord of the universe. Such is the potency of Prabhuji that a neophyte like me could take darshan of Jagannath by merely being in the presence of His devotee.

Prabhuji spoke about Krishna’s various pastimes for sometime and It was painful when he announced that the class is over. Prabhuji sang Gaur Arti with everyone afterwards.

I begged Achyut Hari Prabhuji to allow me to drop Prabhuji tomorrow at Punjabi Bagh temple, which he mercifully agreed.

15th December

I picked Prabhuji and came to Punjabi bagh temple. Prabhuji spoke about the verse SB 7.5.13

Translation

Persons who always think in terms of “enemy” and “friend” are unable to ascertain the Supersoul within themselves. Not to speak of them, even such exalted persons as Lord Brahmā, who are fully conversant with the Vedic literature, are sometimes bewildered in following the principles of devotional service. The same Supreme Personality of Godhead who has created this situation has certainly given me the intelligence to take the side of your so-called enemy.

He explained the above verse in relation to book distribution. He said like Prahalad Maharaj is speaking that we should not consider anyone  as our  enemy or friend similarly when we go out  people may consider us sometimes as their friend and sometimes as their enemy. But we should not look towards them in similar fashion and should always treat them equally. We should make judgment on whom to approach based on whether the person is rich or poor, handsome or ugly and so on.

Prabhuji also recited a wonderful story from MahaBharat where one devotee mixed all the delicious prasadam made by Draupadi because he did not wished to make a distinction between various dishes as they were all prasdam ! ( Definitely a lesson for me !)

Prabhuji stressed that we should distribute Krishna Prema to everyone without distinction and that we should follow Panch Tattava on how They distributed Krishna Prema.

He recited another wonderful story where King Janak refused to go to Vaikuntha and wanted to stay in hell as inhabitants there were getting some relief from various punishments, by the mere presence of King Janak. And how King Janak finally gave the benefit of his chanting of just one Rama Nama and he liberated everyfrom hell. This is what, Prabhuji commented, should be our mood in any service, Jive Doya. This is the mood of our Acharayas, which should strive to inculcate within us.

He added that we should not feel that we are giving `our’ mercy to all these fallen souls when we distribute books. Prabhuji said that we should instead instill a mood of serving them and serving Krishna. He said that for the sake our own purity we should not see anyone we meet as friend or foe, rich or poor and we should spread mercy to receive mercy. We can listen to the complete lecture at http://www.iskconpunjabibagh.com/audio-gallery/hg-madhavanand-prabhu ( 15th Dec 2013)

Later, I felt inspired to hear more lectures of Prabhuji and downloaded many lectures from iskcondesiretree.com, they were all dipped in Krishna Prema, guide us to a higher realm and offer us enlightening point of views & realisations. My pick was Ramananda Samvad. We can download this and many more lectures at

http://audio.iskcondesiretree.info/index.php?q=f&f=%2F03_-_ISKCON_Prabhujis%2FISKCON_Prabhujis_-_K_to_R%2FHis_Grace_Madhavananda_Prabhu%2FRamananda_Samvad

I pray that at the lotus feet of Prabhuji and further pray that he continues to receive mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga to spread the glories of Holy name all over the world and enrich the lives of devotees with Krishna Katha.

HG Madhavananda Prabhu ji Ki jai.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.