Pune Launch of The Journey Home
Inauguration of Stanton Street Yoga
Mumbai Launch of The Journey Home
Columbia University – Discussion with Francis X. Clooney
International Yoga Conference at Rishikesh
In Search of a Lost Love – Lessons From the Musk Deer
Establishing The Kingdom of Rama Within – Thoughts for Rama Navami
Radhanath Swami Visits Moscow
Placing Faith in the Small Things – Mumbai’s 100th Prerana Festival
Russian Yoga Journal Asks About Yoga’s Benefits
May 5, 2012
March 17, 2010 marked the launch of “Trishart Pathik“, the Marathi translation of the Radhanath Swami’s memoir “The Journey Home”, at the Bal Gandharva Theatre in Pune, India. Marathi is the language of Maharashtra, India’s central western state. The event was hosted by Gaur Gopal Das, member of ISKCON Chowpatty and Raghupati Das, Temple President ISKCON Nigdi and the Marathi translator of “The Journey Home”. The book launch was attended by renowned people from industry, media, education, governance and the social sector in Pune. Popular cultural figure Shivshahir Babasaheb Purandare,...
May 2, 2012
On Sunday, April 22, Radhanath Swami was asked to speak at the inauguration of Stanton Street Yoga, a new yoga studio and Ayurvedic health retreat on New York’s Lower East Side. Stanton Street Yoga is a cooperative effort, owned and run by followers of Srila Prabhupada, headed by Badaryana and Rukmini Wienberg. Around one hundred guests squeezed into the beautiful new studio to attend the opening yajna ceremony, kirtan, talk and vegetarian meal. Below are some excepts from Swami’s talk. “In the sixth chapter of the Bhagavada-Gita, which is one...
April 30, 2012
The first book launch of Radhanath Swami’s ‘The Journey Home’ was a vivid, intense and inspiring show put up at NCPA theatre, Mumbai on Friday, August 21, 2009. Popular film actor and producer, Juhi Chawla unveiled ‘The Journey Home – Autobiography of an American Swami’ amongst a star-studded gathering hosted by Dr. Swati Piramal, Director, Piramal Group & Chairman, Mr. Ajay Piramal and attended by movers and shakers of the city from industry, media, education, governance and social sector. Noted French journalist Nadine Kreisberger took the guests through the proceedings...
April 24, 2012
On Friday, April 20th, Radhanath Swami joined Francis X. Clooney S.J. at Columbia Universities’ Earl Hall Auditorium for a program entitled “Encountering God – Hindu & Christian Perspectives on Going Deeper Into Spiritual Experience”. Francis Clooney is a Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity, as well as a Catholic, Jesuit priest. The evening was hosted by the Gadadhara Pandit Das, the Hindu Chaplin of Columbia University, and sponsored by the Columbia University Bhakti Club. The discussion was moderated by professor Edwin Bryant, Rutgers universities’...
April 15, 2012
“Be with nature, learn from nature, and change your nature.” said H. H. Swami Chidanand Saraswati Ji while welcoming guests to the International Yoga Conference at Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh, India. From March 1st thru 7th Radhanath Swami, along with forty yoga gurus, shared the teachings of yoga with hundreds of yogis from around the globe. Prominent teachers at the conference included H.H. Sri Shankaracharya Swami Divyanand Teerthji, H.H. Swami Ramdevji, H.H. Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji and H.H. Swami Veda Bharatiji. The International Yoga Festival, which started in 1999 with a just...
April 9, 2012
Mother Nature is always speaking. She speaks in a language understood within the peaceful mind of the sincere observer. Leopards, cobras, monkeys, rivers and trees; they all served as my teachers when I lived as a wanderer in the Himalayan foothills. They shared the kind of lessons that elevate the spirit. One particularly illuminating lesson from the forest comes in the form of the Himalayan musk deer. The musk deer is referenced in Sanskrit poetry and philosophy owing to its peculiar behavior. Prized by the perfume industry for its exceptional...
March 31, 2012
On Rama Navami we celebrate the appearance of Lord Rama. And most important for all of us to understand about the appearance of the Lord, is how to cultivate the appearance of the Lord within our own hearts. Until people establish the Kingdom of Ram within, there is no possibility of doing so without. In other words until our hearts are restored to their natural state -full of devotion – there will always be the difficulties of corruption, and quarrel. The Lord descended to this world as Lord Ram to...
March 28, 2012
The recent release in Russia of The Journey Home has been well received in a country that has a long history of interest in Indian spirituality. On the 20th of March Radhanath Swami arrived in Moscow and on same day gave two interviews. The first, to the Moscow-based daily newspaper Moskovskij Komsomolets, one of Russia two largest newspapers, with a circulation approaching one million. The second interview was given at the popular radio station Echo of Moscow which features news and talk shows focusing on social and political issues. A...
March 27, 2012
It was born on 27th July, 2002 and in ten years it has turned one-hundred. March 18th marked the 100th “Prerana” – the monthly youth festival started and refined under the guidance of Radhanath Swami, at the Radha Gopinath Temple in Mumbai. Prerana (Hindi for “Inspiration”) was conceived as a regular gathering of students, for providing inspiration to remain an instrument of God’s grace, irrespective of the corruption, pollution, and other stresses of the modern Mumbai lifestyle. This initiative started small with less than two hundred young men. Today, more...
March 26, 2012
Radhanath Swami arrived in Moscow on March 21st. The following day he was interviewed for the Russian edition of Yoga Journal magazine. Yoga Journal’s reporter mentioned that often, western people do not know which type of yoga they should practice or whether they will benefit from yoga not only bodily but spiritually as well. Below is his response. “There is a verse in the Bhagavd-gita – “ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham“, which means, “as we approach the Lord, the Lord reciprocates accordingly”. So according to what we want we...