Maha-bhagavat- HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj

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!

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

Soak in the beauty of baby Krishna

जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः।

त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन।।

One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

(BG  4.9)

The Time

At the end of Dvapara-yuga, which completely destroys faults and doubts, an auspicious, favorable,  obstacle-free time appeared on the eighth day of the waning moon in Bhadra  month. Just at that sweet moment the Rohini Naksatra, along with the good  qualities of the moon and an auspicious conjunction of stars called  Ayusman, appeared in the sky to give shelter to gentle persons.

Baby Krishna takes birth in Gokula

Everyone in  the maternity room swelled with joy upon seeing the Lord’s exquisite  transcendental form that looked like a creeper of beauty.

Mother Yasoda resembled a lake of spiritual ecstasy in which a brilliant  blue lotus of personified bliss had appeared. Neither the wind nor the  bees relished the fragrance of that blue lotus. That unborn lotus was  never touched by the waves of the modes of nature. Even Lord Brahma could  not see it, what to speak of ordinary men.

After Yasoda and her family members fell asleep in the maternity room,  Hari cried beautifully like a newborn baby. His crying sounded like the maha-vakya omkara announcing the auspicious arrival of His pastimes. Omkara is a transcendental vibration that had previously emanated from the  mouth of Lord Brahma. When the ladies of Vrindavana heard the sweet sound  of Krishna’s crying, they woke up and ran to see the Lord. With the mellow  of their matchless overflowing affection they anointed His body.

Baby Krishna is tenderness personified

The natural fragrance of Krishna’s body smelled just like musk. After the  ladies bathed Krishna in sweet ambrosia, He looked cleansed and beautiful.  Then they smeared His body with fragrant sandalwood pulp. The presiding  deity of the house sent a campaka flower resembling the flame of a lamp  into the maternity room to worship that ornament of the three worlds.

With  the strength of His little arms, delicate as the tender leaves of a tree,  Krishna made all the lamps in the maternity room look like a garland of  lotus flower buds. The ladies of Vrindavana saw baby Krishna like a blossoming flower made of  the best of blue sapphires, or like a newly unfurled leaf of a tamala tree. Krishna looked like a fresh rain cloud decorated with the musk tilaka  of the goddess of fortune of the three worlds. The ointment of the greatest auspiciousness lined His eyes. His presence filled the maternity  room with good fortune. Although a mere baby, Krishna had a head full of  curly hair. To hide the unique signs on His hands (goad, fish, conch etc.)  the Lord folded His delicate petal-like fingers into His lotus palm. At  that time Krishna laid on His back with His eyes closed.

Mother Yasoda and baby Krishna

Mother Yasoda awoke amidst the joyous chattering of the elderly gopis.  Leaning over the bed she admired her gorgeous son. But upon noticing her own reflection on Krishna’s body, she imagined it another woman. Thinking that a witch had assumed her form to kidnap Krishna, Yasoda became  bewildered and yelled, “Get out of here! You go away!” Spontaneously she  cried out to Narsimhadeva to protect her precious son.

Beholding Krishna’s tender face, Yasoda showered tears of affection that looked like an  offering of a pearl necklace. Yasoda saw Krishna’s body as a mound of dark blue musk, softer than the  butter churned from the milk ocean. Overflowing with nectar, His charming  body appeared like the foam of milk, but being dark blue in color it  seemed the foam was full of musk juice. Admiring the supremely delicate  form of her son, Yasoda worried about His safety and feared the touch of  her body might hurt his tender body.

As she leaned over the bed Yasoda bathed Krishna with the milk dripping from her breasts. The elderly gopis instructed Yasoda how to caress the baby in her lap, and affectionately push the nipple of her breast into Krishna’s  mouth to feed Him. Due to Yasoda’s intense love, personified bliss flowed  from her breasts as steady streams of milk. When milk sometimes spilled  out of Krishna’s bimba fruit red lips onto His cheeks, Mother Yasoda would wipe His face with the edge of her cloth. After feeding her son, Yasoda gazed affectionately at Him in wonder.

Alluring form of baby Krishna

She saw her child’s body as made of dazzling blue sapphires. His mouth  resembled a red bimbafruit and His hands and feet looked like exquisite  rubies. Krishna’s nails shone like precious gems. In this way, Yasoda  thought her child was completely made of jewels. Then she perceived that  His naturally reddish lips looked like bandhuka flowers, His hands and  feel resembled Java flowers, His nails looked like mallika flowers. Yasoda  then thought, “Krishna’s whole body seems to be made of blue lotus flowers.  He does not appear to be mine.” After thus deliberating within herself  Yasoda became stunned in amazement.

The beautiful, soft curly hairs on the right side of Krishna’s chest  resembled the tender stems of a lotus. Seeing the mark of Srivatsa on His  chest Yasoda thought it was breast milk that had previously spilled out of  His mouth. She tried unsuccessfully to remove these ‘milk stains’ with the  edge of her cloth. Struck with wonder, Yasoda thought this must be the sign  of a great personality.

Observing the sign of Lakshmi (a small golden line)  on the left side of Krishna’s chest, Yasoda thought a small yellow bee had  made a nest amidst the leaves of a tamala tree. Could this be a streak of  lightning resting on a rain cloud, or could it be the golden streaks marking a black gold-testing stone? Krishna’s delicate, leaf-like hands and fee  glowing pink like the rising sun, looked like clusters of lotus flowers  flowing in the Yamuna.

Baby Krishna’s captivating beauty

Sometimes Yasoda saw the curly, dark blue locks of baby Krishna as swarm of bumblebees surrounding His face. Intoxicated from drinking too much honey nectar, the bees just hovered in the sky. His thick, beautiful blue hair appeared like  the dark night. The two lotus eyes of Krishna looked like a pair of blue lotus buds. His cheeks resembled two huge bubbles floating in a lake of liquefied blue sapphires. Krishna’s attractive ears looked like a  pair of fresh unfurled leaves growing on a blue creeper.

The tip of Krishna’s dark nose appeared like the sprout of a tree, and His nostrils looked like bubbles  in the Yamuna River, the daughter of the sun god. His lips resembled a pair of red Java flower buds. Krishna’s chin rivaled a pair of ripe, red jambu fruits. Seeing the extraordinary beauty  of her son fulfilled the purpose of her eyes and submerged Yasoda in an  ocean of bliss.

(Ananda Vrindavana Champu, chapter 2)

Please accept my very warm good wishes and prayers for a very auspicious Janmashtami.

All glories to the charming beauty of baby Krishna.

All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Your servant,

Giriraj dasa