Free Writes Cowards A soldier who turns from battle and is struck on the back is considered cowardly. Vrtrasura, the leader of the demons, cursed his soldiers when they fled from the demigods in battle. He also cursed the demigods for pursuing the demons and attacking them from behind. This is against the code of […]

Free Writes Visit from Russian Sannyasi I’m receiving a visit from Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, the long-term GBC of Russia. He comes to New York City, where there are many Russian devotees. Dhanurdhara Swami is arranging his visit to see me. Dhanurdhara Maharaja says that Bhakti Vijnana Goswami wants to meet with me because “You are […]

Free Writes Readings Jayadvaita Swami and I took turns for two days, reading out loud from Caitanya-caritamrta, Madha-lila Chapter 10, “Lord Caitanya Returns to Jagannatha Puri.” The devotees like rivers flowed into the ocean of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to visit or stay with him. Bhavananda Raya came with four of his five sons. Lord Caitanya […]

Free Writes Pavitras We received a new batch of pavitras from Manohara. Pavitras are the silk garlands the devotees offer to Lord Nrsimhadeva in Mayapura. We use them as garlands for our Prabhupada murti. Every third day, Krsna dasi changes the outfits of Radha-Govinda. On that day, we also change the pavitra for Prabhupada so […]

Free Writes Gita-nagari Cows The sweet corn grown here is eaten by humans and is superexcellent. The majority of the corn crop—a different type of corn—is fed to the local cows to fatten them for slaughter. At Gita-nagari, when the cows stop giving milk, they are allowed to retire and graze. They are never slaughtered. […]

Free Writes Marigolds for Radha-Govinda We have a big garden of mostly orange marigolds. We cover Radha-Govinda’s altar with fresh flowers every morning. We have enough marigolds to last us weeks, maybe through September. Radha-Govinda are dressed in new brilliant-blue outfits from the Vrndavana mukut-walla, Tapan. I take more darsana of Radharani than Govinda. She […]

Radharani Free Writes Radharani Talk Talk of Radharani is very confidential because externally Radha and Krsna appear to be “lawless” lovers. Prabhupada explained this with an analogy when he visited Boston in 1968. He entered the storefront and bowed down with the devotees before framed pictures on the altar. When he sat on the dais, […]

Free Writes Protection Krsna is called bhakta-vatsala, which means He is especially inclined to His devotees. When angry Indra sent the devastating flood to destroy the residents of Vrndavana, all the men, women, cows and calves ran to Krsna seeking His protection. Krsna lifted up the Govardhana mountain on the pinkie of His left hand […]