July 30, 2021 IMPORTANT UPDATE: Dear Readers of Free Write Journal, On Wednesday, July 28, Satsvarupa Maharaja briefly went to the hospital to treat a flare-up of a urinary tract infection and pneumonia. He did not stay overnight but is now back at Viraha Bhavan, where he has been recovering and writing.  Free Writes Stuyvesant […]

July 23, 2021 Free Writes Prabhupada Lilamrta in Spanish Guru Prasad Maharaja, the GBC for Latin America, phoned me and informed me that the BBT has translated the Prabhupada-lilamrta into Spanish. This is very good news. They will have an inauguration ceremony on August 1st. To acknowledge this great achievement, Maharaja invited me to talk […]

July 16, 2021 Free Writes Prabhupada-lilamrta Pancharatra Prabhu has sent out questionnaires to senior devotees asking their opinion about the role of Srila Prabhupada as the Founder-Acarya and the role of diksa-gurus and siksa-gurus in ISKCON. My humble opinion is that if the devotees of ISKCON would read the seven-volume unabridged Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta, they would […]

July 9, 2021 Free Writes Five New Books At the July 3rd festival I’m distributing five new books that my disciples have never seen before. There is a tension between asking them to pay for all the books or to just give a donation for whatever they can afford. I don’t want to come off […]

July 2, 2021 Free Writes Radha-Govinda Radha-Govinda just had a change of dress. A main color is yellow-cream. It has red trim. Radharani’s skirt has two large peacocks. Thin waist, prominent bosom, long black braid, Sri Rupa says, “like a cobra.” Govinda’s turban is russet in color and expertly made with a peacock feather on […]

June 25, 2021 Free Writes July 3rd Speaking At the July 3rd festival, I’m going to speak about our group out-loud readings. We started 2021 with the Caitanya-caritamrta, and now we are in the Eighth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Then I’ll introduce the new books I’ve published, which most of the audience will not have seen, […]

June 18, 2021 Free Writes Marriage In the very early years of ISKCON, Swamiji personally acted as matchmaker in marriages. In 1968, I was living in the small Boston storefront temple with two other devotees. One was a girl, Jadurani, and one was a brahmacari, Pradyumna. And I was also a brahmacari and the temple […]

June 11, 2021 Free Writes Bhurijana’s Lecture from Bhagavad-gita Sixth Chapter In the Sixth Chapter, Krsna teaches astanga-yoga, including asanas, pranayama, etc. In the last verse of the chapter, He says, “And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself and renders transcendental loving service […]