Sri Sri Krishna Balarama Mandir - Queens, New York

04/20/2026

Today our temple is officially closed.
We had our last Sunday Love Feast. 🪔

Thank you to all the devotees for the love and support over the years. 🙏

Sri Krishna said: "Because I am transcendental, beyond both the fallible and the infallible, and because I am the greatest, I am celebrated both in the world and in the Vedas as that Supreme Person."

Bhagavad Gita As It Is 15.18

यस्मात्क्षरमतीतोऽहमक्षरादपि चोत्तम: ।
अतोऽस्मि लोके वेदे च प्रथित: पुरुषोत्तम: ॥ १८ ॥

yasmāt kṣaram atīto ’ham
akṣarād api cottamaḥ
ato ’smi loke vede ca
prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ

*******

"The more you cleanse the temple, the more you decorate the Deity, the more your heart becomes cleansed". -Srila Prabhupada

04/17/2026

Meetup at the temple address.

04/14/2026

Sri Krishna: "I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas."

Bhagavad Gita As It Is 15.15
Srila Prabhupada

सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो
मत्त: स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च ।
वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो
वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम् ॥ १५ ॥

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham

Chant and Be Happy
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, Hare Krishna

03/27/2026

Ram Navami

Śrī Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa

He knows His duties. He is true to His promise. He is absorbed in benefiting the living creatures. He is famous, endowed with knowledge, straightforward, dependent on His surrendered devotees and absorbed in thoughts of protecting them. He is equal to the Prajāpati in the matter of protecting the universe. He is inseparable from Śrī, the goddess of fortune. He nourishes His devotees and destroys their obstacles.

He is the protector of the living creatures. He is the complete protector of Vedic dharma. He is the protector of His duty, and He is the protector of His devotees too.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

"The emblem of Hanumān on the flag of Arjuna is another sign of victory because Hanumān cooperated with Lord Rāma in the battle between Rāma and Rāvaṇa, and Lord Rāma emerged victorious. Now both Rāma and Hanumān were present on the chariot of Arjuna to help him. Lord Kṛṣṇa is Rāma Himself, and wherever Lord Rāma is, His eternal servitor Hanumān and His eternal consort Sītā, the goddess of fortune, are present."

Bhagavad Gita As It Is 1.20
Purport by Srila Prabhupada

03/19/2026

03/16/2026

Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, by My internal energy I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is (4.6)

Because Bhagavad Gita is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one need not read any other Vedic literature. One need only attentively and regularly hear and read Bhagavad Gita.

Bhagavad Gita Introduction,
Srila Prabhupada

Chant and Be Happy
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

02/20/2026

02/16/2026

Śrī Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, says that all good qualities become manifest in the body of a Vaiṣṇava and that only by the presence of these good qualities can one distinguish a Vaiṣṇava from a non-Vaiṣṇava. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja lists the following twenty-six good qualities of a Vaiṣṇava:

(1) He is very kind to everyone.
(2) He does not make anyone his enemy.
(3) He is truthful.
(4) He is equal to everyone.
(5) No one can find any fault in him.
(6) He is magnanimous.
(7) He is mild.
(8) He is always clean.
(9) He is without possessions.
(10) He works for everyone’s benefit.
(11) He is very peaceful.
(12) He is always surrendered to Kṛṣṇa.
(13) He has no material desires.
(14) He is very meek.
(15) He is steady.
(16) He controls his senses.
(17) He does not eat more than required.
(18) He is not influenced by the Lord’s illusory energy.
(19) He offers respect to everyone.
(20) He does not desire any respect for himself.
(21) He is very grave.
(22) He is merciful.
(23) He is friendly.
(24) He is poetic.
(25) He is expert.
(26) He is silent.

(SB 5.18.12 purport)

Srila Prabhupada ki jay
Sri Krishna Balarama ki jay
Shivaratri ki jay

02/09/2026

Intelligent persons who are endeavoring for liberation from old age and death take refuge in Me in devotional service. They are actually Brahman because they entirely know everything about transcendental activities.

Bhagavad Gita As It Is 7.29

jarā-maraṇa-mokṣāya
mām āśritya yatanti ye
te brahma tad viduḥ kṛtsnam
adhyātmaṁ karma cākhilam

Purport by Srila Prabhupada:

Birth, death, old age and diseases affect this material body, but not the spiritual body. There is no birth, death, old age and disease for the spiritual body, so one who attains a spiritual body, becomes one of the associates of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and engages in eternal devotional service is really liberated. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: I am spirit. It is said that one should understand that he is Brahman, spirit soul. This Brahman conception of life is also in devotional service, as described in this verse. The pure devotees are transcendentally situated on the Brahman platform, and they know everything about transcendental activities.

Four kinds of impure devotees who engage themselves in the transcendental service of the Lord achieve their respective goals, and by the grace of the Supreme Lord, when they are fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, they actually enjoy spiritual association with the Supreme Lord. But those who are worshipers of demigods never reach the Supreme Lord in His supreme planet.
Even the less intelligent Brahman-realized persons cannot reach the supreme planet of Kṛṣṇa known as Goloka Vṛndāvana. Only persons who perform activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness (mām āśritya) are actually entitled to be called Brahman, because they are actually endeavoring to reach the Kṛṣṇa planet. Such persons have no misgivings about Kṛṣṇa, and thus they are factually Brahman.

Those who are engaged in worshiping the form or arcā of the Lord, or who are engaged in meditation on the Lord simply for liberation from material bo***ge, also know, by the grace of the Lord, the purports of Brahman, adhibhūta, etc., as explained by the Lord in the next chapter.

01/31/2026

Sri Nityananda Trayodasi: "Simply by chanting the name 'Nityananda' one awakens his love for Krsna." (CC AdiLila 8.23)

"Unless one is favored by Lord Caitanya and Nityananda, there is no need to go to Vrindavana, for unless one's mind is purified, he cannot see Vrindavana, even if he goes there."
— (Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 8.31, Purport by Srila Prabhupada)

By serving Gaura-Nityananda one is freed from the entanglements of material existence and thus becomes qualified to worship the Radha-Krsna Deity."
— (Cc Adi 8.32, Purport)

"For an ordinary man, worship of Shri Chaitanya and Nityananda Prabhu or the Panca-tattva is easier than worship of Radha and Krishna... in the beginning it is essential that one take to the worship of Guru-Gauranga and ask their favor."
— (Cc Adi 8.31, purport)

Lord Gauranga tells Lord Nityananda:

"Your name is Nityananda (eternally full of eternal bliss). Your form is also Nityananda (eternally full of eternal bliss). Your are Nityananda (unlimited bliss) in personified form because You are Lord Balarama Himself."

Chaitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda 12.18

Chant & Be Happy
Sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare