Invitation to celebrate Sri Govardhana-pūjā Nov. 14, 2023 (Tuesday).

Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharvika Giridhari

When: Tuesday Nov. 14th, 2023 from 2PM – 5PM.

Dear devotees and friends: We humbly invite you to participate along with devotees from Sri Gaura Vinoda Saraswat Sanga New Jersey in the grand festival for Sri Govardhana-pūjā.

Please come and join with us for the auspicious celebration of Sri Govardhana-pūjā. Festivities to include kirtana, readings (From Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead), discourses and prasadam.

Please RSVP via our contact page.

For your satisfaction we offer this audio lecture of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami’s talk on Sri Govardhana-pūjā day November 14th 1966.

Govardhana Pūjā Lecture

Excerpt from: Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

”The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, thus advised the cowherd men to stop the Indra-yajña and begin the Govardhana-pūjā in order to chastise Indra, who was very much puffed up at being the supreme controller of the heavenly planets. The honest and simple cowherd men, headed by Nanda Mahārāja, accepted Kṛṣṇa’s proposal and executed in detail everything He advised. They performed Govardhana worship and circumambulation of the hill. (Following the inauguration of Govardhana-pūjā, people in Vṛndāvana still dress nicely and assemble near Govardhana Hill to offer worship and circumambulate the hill, leading their cows all around.)… Read More...

129th Appearance Celebration of Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Dev-Goswami Maharaja. Monday November 6, 2023.

Dear devotees and friends, we humbly invite you to participate in the festival for the Grand 129th Appearance Day Celebration of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math’s Founder President Acharya, Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya-varya Astottara-sata Sri Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Dev-Goswami Maharaja which will take place at the Sri Gaura Vinoda Saraswat Sanga headquarters in New Jersey, USA and at GVSS centers around the world on November 6th 2023.

This festival will include Nama sankirtana, discourses and other all-auspicious activities. Please RSVP by clicking on the contact page and using one of the methods available there.

Invitation to Sri Radhastami. Appearance day of Srimati Radharani. September 23rd 2023

Dear devotees and friends: We humbly invite you to participate along with devotees from Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math Global New Jersey in the grand festival for Sri Radhastami on Saturday September 23, 2023.

Fast until noon.

The festival will include kirtana, discourses and other auspicious activities. Please RSVP via our contact page.

Included is a link for the pleasure of the devotees on this most auspicious of days – Sri Radha: “in charge of the domestic affairs of Krishna.”

Invitation to Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami’s Appearance Festival. September 8, 2023.

You are invited to attend Sri Nandotsava and Thakura Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appearance day celebrations the morning of Friday 8th September 2023. These festivities will follow the previous evening’s program of Sri Krishna Janmastami.

The festivals will include kirtana, discourses and other auspicious activities. Please RSVP via our contact page.

Invitation to Sri Krishna Janmastami. Appearance of Lord Krishna. September 7, 2023 (Thursday)

Dear devotees and friends: We humbly invite you to participate at the Sri Gaura Vinoda Saraswat Sanga Global Headquarters in New Jersey, USA in the celebration of the grand festival of Sri Krishna Janmastami on Friday the 19th September 7, 2023 at 8pm until 12am midnight Friday, September 8th 2023.

Complete fast until midnight, then no grains (anukalpa).

Janmastami-vrata paran is at 6:05 AM Friday September 8, 2023.

You are also invited to attend Sri Nandotsava and Thakura Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appearance day celebrations the following morning on Friday 8th September 2023.

The festivals will include kirtana, discourses and other auspicious activities. Please RSVP via our contact page.

Srila Giri Maharaja “Get Off My Lawn!”

8/30/23 (Last day of the first month of Chaturmasya)

Dear Sriman Saraswat Putra,

My dandavats to you.

[You wrote:]

any sri chaitanya saraswat man i told of the chatermasya discrepancy in the calendar said it will not matter .

What others told you may or may not have been correct. I don’t know the circumstances or the conversation. This characterization of yours “any sri chaitanya saraswat man” doesn’t help much in evaluating how closely one should, or need not, adhere to the observance of the four months of Chaturmasya.

The rule is that one should carefully observe the four Months of Chaturmasya (as stated in the quotation of Srila Swami Maharaja Prabhupada I sent you which had been posted on the scsmath.com website).

Are there exceptions? Almost always. Here’s an example.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja: So penance, cāturmāsya penance, that has got also some necessity in the beginning, because we are under at present, such a plane that we do not know without enjoyment. Always calculating what benefit we can derive from that, going to have a connection with anything, the second thing, how much benefit I may derive from it. It is natural. So just to check that, to check that natural irresistible attempt in our present position, some restraint is necessary.… Read More...

Srila Giri Maharaja “I Stand Corrected?”

Date: 8/27/23

Dear Saraswat Putra,

Thank you for your comment — “as far as i know the calendar has never had any chatermas , ect, dates 1981 — 2023.” — which has helped me to notice at least one error in the latest calendar we produced. I will immediately try to see that all errors in our calendar referring to Chaturmasya are corrected before the beginning of the second month.

Your statement is not wrong, but I think I am correct to note the beginning and end dates of each month of Chaturmasya based on the following quotation (highlighting added) originally posted on the scsmath.com website and which may be found at: Chaturmasya.

All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga

Chaturmasya

Here at Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math the devotees begin Chaturmasya on purnima (the full moon day). The following is a section about Chaturmasya by Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in his edition of Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, (Madhya-lila 4.169):

Verse:

At the end of summer Madhavendra Puri returned to Jagannatha Puri, where he remained with great pleasure during the whole period of Chaturmasya.

Purport:

The Chaturmasya period begins in the month of Asadha (June-July) from the day of Ekadasi called Sayana-ekadasi, in the fortnight of the waxing moon.… Read More...

Srila Giri Maharaja “Calendar Alert”

It has come to my attention that a number of calendars circulated by those representing themselves as Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math have serious defects with respect to the dates of observance of Chaturmasya. This is a result of omitting the beginning and end dates for each of the individual months.

Thanks to the efforts of Sriman Gokulananda dasa (who produces our calendar) these dates are correctly noted in our calendar which is intended for use by those in or near our geographic area of Oaklyn, New Jersey, USA.

Those outside our area may want to use our calendar as a baseline by which accurate dates for each of the months of Chaturmasya may be calculated for one’s specific location.

While this may seem a small matter to some, our gurus attached considerable significance to producing accurate calendars. This was true for Srila Swami Maharaja Prabhupad, Srila Sridhara Maharaja and Srila Govinda Maharaja. I personally witnessed the distress of the latter two acharyas when they noted an incorrect calculation, notation, omission or other discrepancy. In the case of Srila Prabhupada I’ve heard and read about his displeasure in such instances.

Mistakes can be excused, but they should be corrected. We are now more than a month into the first extended month of Chaturmasya and I’ve seen no effort to correct the calendars referenced above.… Read More...