Free Writes Gaura Purnima Meeting On Saturday we entered Keli-lalita’s yoga studio, and she was leading kirtana with the harmonium. Saci Suta was accompanying her with a short Indian drum. It was very nice. Gathered were about twenty adults and eight children. The kirtana lasted about half an hour, then I was asked to speak. […]

Free Writes Gaura Purnima I’ve been invited to speak at a Gaura Purnima event at Keli Lalita’s house on Saturday. I will say Lord Caitanya had an external and a confidential reason for His appearance. First Lord Krsna, in His original blackish form, appeared in Dvarapa-yuga and sported in Vrndavana with His eternally liberated associates. […]

Free Writes Krsna dasi in India Krsna dasi has returned from four weeks in India: mission accomplished. She did many things, mainly bonding with Tapan, the master mukut-walla in Vrindavan. She sat with him while he drew patterns on a stitching board, and she guided him in exactly what we want for Radha-Govinda. Krsna dasi […]

Free Writes Valentine’s Day Today, February 14th by the calendar, is Valentine’s Day. Our Godbrother Muktavandya has been going outside on this day for 30 years, selling flowers and collecting donations for the temple. On Valentine’s Day, his line of customers will go halfway around the block. (Muktavandya has recently contracted glaucoma, and when they […]

Free Writes Health Report Three out of four of the inmates in the ashram have been affected by health issues. Bala has a constant dry cough which won’t go away until he leaves the frigid North at the end of the month and goes to organize the Trinidad Ratha-yatra. (He has felt obliged to take […]

Free Writes Visitors A South American devotee brought his brother, his brother’s wife and their three small children for lunch. They were a disruption to our ashram. They were not qualified to sit and hear our one-and-a-half hour out-loud reading, so the two men talked loosely of the early years of ISKCON in their part […]

Free Writes Fundraising Campaign I put my heart and soul into writing books. The cycle is complete when my disciples reciprocate. It is a two-way loving exchange. By donating to the fundraising campaign to pay for printing the books, by purchasing and reading the books, by distributing the books to others, we serve together in […]

Free Writes Gauranga: because His body has a golden hue; because He is in the mood and complexion of Radharani (sri-krsna-caitanya, radha-krsna nahe anya.) Nimai: because He was born under a neem tree, and the ladies wanted to protect Him from evil spirits. Nimai Pandita: because He manifested Himself as a great scholar and teacher, […]