Festivals | The Hare Krishna Movement

Gaur Purnima Lecture 1976 Mayapur

06 Mar 2023 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Festivals, Lectures Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Krishna, Lord Caitanya, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's Sankirtan Movement, sankirtan, sankirtan movement

So today is Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance day. We will honor it with a full day fast, which we will break at the appearance of the full moon with a nice prasadam feast. Also in honor of this auspiscious day, we share with you a lecture given in Mayapur India, on the Gaura Purnima day, in 1976. Hare Krishna!

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Lecture 7.9.38
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Māyāpur, March 16, 1976

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: “In this way, my Lord, You have appeared in different incarnations—as human beings, as animals, as a great saintly person, as demigods and as a fish and a tortoise. In this way You maintain the whole creation in different planetary systems and kill the demoniac principles in every age. My Lord, You therefore protect the principles of religion. In the age of Kali You do not assert Yourself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore You are known as Tri-yuga, or the Lord who appears in three yugas.”

Prabhupāda:

itthaṁ nṛ-tiryag-ṛṣi-deva-jhaṣāvatārair lokān vibhāvayasi haṁsi jagat pratīpān dharmaṁ mahā-puruṣa pāsi yugānuvṛttaṁ channaḥ kalau yad abhavas tri-yugo ’tha sa tvam

So here is a very specific statement about Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is avatāra. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the same Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He’s channa. Channa means covered, not directly, because He has appeared as a devotee. Avatāra… Rūpa Gosvāmī has found out that He’s avatāra of Kṛṣṇa. All the devotees, Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, Rūpa Gosvāmī, and in the śāstra, and the Upaniṣad, Mahābhārata, in every… Sādhu-śāstra. Avatāra should be confirmed by great devotees, personalities, and must be collaborated with the statement in the śāstra.

So here is another statement in the Śrīmad-Bhgavatam. The directly, it is stated in the Elaeventh Canto, you know,

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtanaiḥ prāyair yajanti hi sumedhsaḥ [SB 11.5.32]

Krishna Janmastami

19 Aug 2022 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Festivals, Janmastami, Krishna, KRSNA The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lectures Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Janmastami, Krishna, Krishna Janmastami, Krsna

Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! he
Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! he
Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! rakṣa mām
Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! pāhi mām
Rāma! Rāghava! Rāma! Rāghava! Rāma! Rāghava! rakṣa mām
Kṛṣṇa! Keśava! Kṛṣṇa! Keśava! Kṛṣṇa! Keśava! pāhi mām
Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 7.96)

Today, here in the Western half of the World, we are celebrating Janmastami: the appearance day of Lord Sri Krishna. So let us take advantage of this auspicious day and hear, chant, and remember the pastimes of the Lord. Hare Krishna!

The following is Lord Krishna’s Appearance Day Lecture given by Srila Prabhupada on August 16, 1968, Montreal Canada.

Lord Ramacandra’s Appearance Day Rama Navami

02 Apr 2020 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Festivals, Lectures, Rama, Rama Navami Tags: A, A. C. Bhakthvedanta Swami Prabhupada, appearance day of Lord Ramacandra, Ayodhya India, Hanuman, Laksmana, Lecture by Srila Prabhupada, Rama, Rama Navami, Ramadi, Ravana, Sita

Today we are celebrating Śrī Rāma-Navamī, Lord Rāmacandra’s Appearance Day. We are honoring it with a fast until sunset, followed by a nice vegetarian feast. We are including a lecture by Srila Prabhupada on the appearance of Lord Ramachandra

…So Rāmacandra’s life, God’s activities, pastimes, if we hear, that means we are associating with Rāmacandra. There is no difference between His form, His name, His pastimes, and Himself. He’s absolute. Therefore either you chant the holy name of Rāma or you see the statue of Rāma or you talk of His pastimes, transcendental pastimes, everything, that means you are associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So we take advantage of these days when the incarnation of God appears or disappears, and we try to associate with Him. By His association we become purified. Our process is purification. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means simply we are purifying our consciousness. (Lecture by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Recorded in Hawaii, March 27, 1969)

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Radhastami

09 Sep 2016 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Festivals, Radhastami, Srimati Radharani Tags: love for God, Radha, Radha and Krishna, Radha Krsna plilosophy, Radhastami, Srimati Radharani

Today we honor the appearance of Srimati Radharani, Radhastami, with a half day fast, and a celebration at noon (when She appears).

click on image to enlarge

…”All glories to Rādhārāṇī.” Rādhe jaya jaya mādhava-dayite. “She’s so dear to Kṛṣṇa.” Kṛṣṇa, everyone is trying to love Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa is trying to love somebody. Now how great She is. Just try to understand. Everyone, the whole world, the whole universe, all living entities, they are trying to love Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-prema. Lord Caitanya describes, prema-pumārtho mahān. And Rūpa Gosvāmī described that “You are distributing kṛṣṇa-prema.” So kṛṣṇa-prema is so valuable, but Kṛṣṇa is after Rādhārāṇī. Just see how Rādhārāṇī is great. Just try to understand the greatness of Rādhārāṇī. Therefore She is so great, and we have to offer our respect. (from Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s Appearance Day Lecture, Montreal August 30, 1968)

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Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day

28 Dec 2015 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Festivals, Lectures Tags: A. C. Bhakthvedanta Swami Prabhupada, appearance and disappearance, devotee, dissappearance day lecture, gaudia vaisnava, His Divine Grace, Srila Bhaktididdhanta disappearance day, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, vaisnava

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda’s Disappearance Day, Lecture
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Los Angeles, December 13, 1973

Prabhupāda:

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhūtale śrīmate bhaktisiddhānta sarasvatīti nāmine

Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura passed away from this material world on 31st December, 1936. So almost forty years past. So there are two phases, prakaṭa and aprakaṭa, appearance and disappearance. So we have nothing to lament on account of disappearance because Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s devotee… Not only devotees, even the nondevotees, nobody disappears. Nobody disappears because every living entity… As Kṛṣṇa is eternal… It is confirmed in the Vedic literature, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. The description of the Supreme Lord is that He is also nitya, eternal, and the living entities are also eternal. But He is the chief eternal. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām. So qualitatively, there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and the living entities. And quantitatively, there is difference. What is the difference between nitya, the singular number nitya, and the plural number nitya? The plural number nitya is subordinate, eternal servants of the singular number nitya. Just like if you want to serve somebody, so the master is also exactly like you. He has got two hands, two legs, or the same sentiments. He also eats. Everything is same there. But the difference is the master and the servant. That’s all. Otherwise, equal in every respect. More

Overpopulation?

09 Dec 2015 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Festivals, Lectures, Uncategorized Tags: A. C. Bhakthvedanta Swami Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, earth mother, festival lectures, krsna consciousness, mother gives life, New York Rathayatra, Ratha Yatra Festival, Srila Prabhupada

overpopulation

The theory of overpopulation was explained by Srila Prabhupada at the famous New York Ratha-yatra festival in 1976. I remember clearly, We were at the park, in one of the worlds largest cities, sourounded by thousands of people, and Srila Prabhupada was speaking about how Krsna is feeding the world…

…God is father, supreme father of everyone. If we simply study this verse from the Bhagavad-gītā, that the mother nature is the mother of all living entities and God is the supreme father of everyone… We can study these two lines very carefully. On the earth we can see so many living entities are coming out, beginning from the grass, then so many insects, reptiles, big trees, then animals, birds, beasts, then human beings. They are all coming from the earth, and they are living at the expense of earth. The earth is supplying food to everyone. As the mother gives life or maintains the child by the milk of her breast, similarly, the earth mother is maintaining all different types of living entities. There are 8,400,000 different forms of life, and the earth, mother earth is supplying food. There are thousands of elephants in the African jungle, they are also being supplied with food. And within your room in a hole there are thousands of ants, they are also being supplied food by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So the philosophy is that we should not be disturbed by the so-called theory of over-population. If God can feed elephants, why he cannot feed you? You do not eat like the elephant. So this theory, that there is a shortage of food or overpopulation, we do not accept it. God is so powerful that He can feed everyone without any difficulty. Simply we are mismanaging. Otherwise there is no difficulty.

Ratha-yātrā

26 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Festivals, Krishna Consciousness, Krishna Consciousness Movement, Krsna Consciousness Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Hare Krishna, human being, jagannatha svami, krsna consciousness, Kuruksetra, philosophy of Krsna Consciousness, prabhupada, Ratha Yatra Festival, Ratha yatra lecture, Ratha-yatra, San Francisco Ratha yatra, solar eclipse, The Hare Krishna Movement

…So if we want to have eternal life, full of knowledge and blissfulness, then we must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the greatest welfare activities in the human society. We are giving information to every man, without any discrimination of cast, creed, or color, that every human being especially, not only human being, all living entities, including the animals, beasts, birds, trees, aquatics—everyone—they can achieve to the highest perfection of life by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But especially the extra intelligence of the human being can be utilized to realize Kṛṣṇa. If we don’t do that, we are missing a great opportunity. So our request to everyone is to understand this philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (Ratha-yātrā Lecture, June 27, 1971, San Francisco)

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