Krishna Katha and Memories of Srila Prabhupada | HG Sandamini Devi Mataji and HG Mukhya Devi Mataji

Devotees at Iskcon Newtown Kolkata got an opportunity to hear Krishna katha and Prabhupada katha from HG Sandamini Devi Mataji and HG Mukhya Devi Mataji during the Sunday Satsang program on 20^th September 2026.

Both are disciples of Srila Prabhupada. The class was organized in Nityananda Hall.  The class started at 11:30 am with melodious Hare Krishna kirtan.

During the class both Matajis discussed pastimes of Krishna and the lessons we can learn from those pastimes. Further, they talked about their temples where they are currently serving. The talk focused on how the temples started, how they grew and how they are doing now. At the end, they shared their personal experiences with Srila Prabhupada, which transformed their lives.

Please read below to know in detail what they spoke. Each topic was spoken one by one by both the Matajis.

Krishna Katha and Memories of Srila Prabhupada

HG Sandamini Devi Mataji

As Rukmini had never met Krishna but had heard about Krishna, so was desirous to meet Krishna. Similarly, I had heard a lot about Iskcon Newtown Kolkata, so I was keen to come here.

Today’s class will be in three parts – Krishna katha, preaching in the West and Srila Prabhupada katha.

Me and HG Mukhya Devi Mataji have been travelling together for the last 17 years. We have come to India many times, visited dhams, temples and bought things from India.

Once I had asked the parents of HH Radhanath Swami Maharaja, when they had come to the temple, to share his amazing experience about Vrindavan. They said that wherever they went, people would come to meet them and say, “Your son is my best friend.” Maharaja’s parents said that if you have one friend then you are rich, but my son had so many friends.

Important Point: Loving relationships among devotees are an important aspect of Krishna consciousness.

This is a very important aspect of Krishna consciousness, which is to have loving relationship. This is also said by Srila Rupa Goswami in his Nectar of Instruction – dadāti pratigṛhṇāti / guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati.

Once HG Guru Prasad Maharaj asked in his class, “What is the most important article you possess?” Some said that my japa bag, some said books, some said cell phones. Maharaja said the best thing is to have a dear friend who will tell you if you are in maya or not.

In Krishna Consciousness sometimes we keep façade and only good friend will tell us the truth. So, it is important to have that friend. This is the ornament of a devotee. It is more valuable than knowing many slokas, having many preaching programs.

Lessons from Krishna’s Pastimes and the Demons He Killed

We just had Janmashtami celebration, so let us reflect on Krishna’s pastimes, especially the pastimes of Krishna killing the demons.

When Krishna was only three months old, Saktasura came. We do not hear much about him; he came as a ghost. Brajvasis were having celebration because Krishna had just turned his back on the bed. So, Mother Yashoda and everyone were busy in celebration when the demon came.

The demon came in the form of a cart. Krishna hit the cart with his leg and the demon died.

Saktasura represents bad habits like laziness and ahankar. In Krishna Consciousness, we give up major sinful habits easily. For Westerners it is a little difficult to give up as compared to Indians.

Here we are talking about giving up subtle bad habits. For example, bad habit of staying up late in the night. When you sleep late, you get up late and when you get up late, your rounds will remain. And then you keep chanting whole day.

As devotees we should take vow to rise early in the morning. This becomes possible by regulating lives.

Important Point: Spiritual progress also requires us to overcome subtle bad habits and regulate our daily lives.

Bakasura Represents Cunning Mentality

Another demon which Krishna killed was Bakasura. Bakasura represents cunning mentality, duplicity and hypocrisy.

Indra had everything but was envious of Prithu Maharaja. He was fearful that Prithu Maharaja would complete 100 ashwamedha yagyas and he came as a sannyasi to deceive the king and steal the sacrificial horse.

Putana also came dressed as a beautiful woman. We know a beautiful woman can get away with a lot of things. Putana was able to approach Krishna. But Krishna cannot be deceived.

Krishna expects honesty, he looks for pure heart. He is already in everyone’s heart, but he manifests when we are honest and respectful.

When we came here to Kolkata, then devotees who picked us up from the airport were very sweet. They could have thought that why I have picked them from the airport, they could have come on their own. We went to various places of pilgrimage, and we were feeling that we are taking so many services from the devotee.

Important Point: Humility and service attitude are the ornaments of a devotee.

HG Mukhya Devi Mataji: Overcoming Pride and False Prestige

We were discussing what to say during the class. We thought of discussing about Krishna killing demons and the lessons to learn from it.

Demons which Krishna killed also represent our anarthas. We also learn how to get rid of those anarthas.

For example, Kesi demon represents false prestige.

Kamsa was having hard time to kill Krishna. Nothing was working, so he sent Kesi demon, a gigantic horse. He came galloping, terrorizing everyone. He was trying to kill Krishna by hitting him with his legs. To show how great he was, the demon opened his mouth. And Krishna immediately put his hand in the horse’s mouth. Krishna’s hand became red hot and the demon got killed quickly.

After killing the demon, Krishna went to Yamuna to take bath and that place came to be known as Kesi Ghat.

Srimad Bhagavatam teaches how to live our life and how to uproot our pride.

Daksha Prajapati was a powerful king, had a big position. But while entering the sacrificial arena, he did not pay respect to Lord Shiva. And because of this he lost his head, literally and figuratively.

Indra was upset that residents of Vrindavan were not honouring him. So, he tried to kill them. But Krishna saved all. We also know the story of Hiranyakasipu.

In our heart humility and false pride are side by side.

We are in this world because of false pride. Pride is destroyer of bhakti. On our own we cannot suppress it. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura says that only Lord can help us.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that desire for pride and prestige is biggest obstacle in bhakti. He wrote prayers and prayed to Lord Nityananda for protection from pride and prestige.

Sometimes we do not know how to pray, so we should learn to pray from our acharyas.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura gave three simple ways to remove false pride – pray to Lord, be humble and show to Lord how we are helpless, expect divine grace which means to allow Krishna to nullify our anarthas.

Krishna is always there to help us, but we should first help ourselves.

Important Point: Pride and the desire for prestige can become major obstacles in devotional life. We should pray for Krishna’s mercy, remain humble and recognize our dependence on the Lord.

All parts of devotional life feed each other.

Preaching Krishna Consciousness in the West

HG Sandamini Devi Mataji

Now let us discuss about our centres. Arizona is a desert. Srimad Bhagavatam says that deserts are cursed. Desert is because of sinful reaction of killing a brahman. In the desert there is no puja and no yagna.

But because of the mercy of Lord Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada we are having preaching there.

Lord Chaitanya wanted Krishna Consciousness to spread everywhere and Srila Prabhupada fulfilled the desire of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

I was in San Diego temple. I was happy serving there. There I was cooking and serving the deities. I thought there are lots of devotees here, so I should go to a place where there are less devotees and give them prasadam. This is because of Srila Prabhupada’s mercy.

Hayagriva Prabhu has written a book named Hare Krishna Explosion. In the book he writes how during Prabhupada’s time devotees were inspired to go all over the world to preach. They would take some Lakshmi and go open a centre. Srila Prabhupada had said that if you open a centre I will come.

Prabhupada had even come to a small city of Mexico where two devotees had started a centre.

Important Point: From the instruction of guru, devotees receive inspiration and empowerment to serve and preach.

We are in Arizona since late 1980s. We have a humble setup there, we have Govindas. Our focus is Western preaching.

In many Iskcon temples in USA, mostly Indians come and this is natural. Indians are like low hanging ripe mangoes, easy to make them devotees. Many Indians began coming to help us since 1980s.

But Prabhupada wanted us to preach to the locals. He said that the congregation should represent the people who live there. We are trying to do that.

We go to university, do Food for Life, do harinam and so on.

Thinking Creatively About Preaching

In China, they would not allow any kind of religion earlier. Devotees would put advertisement in newspaper saying that we are hiring people for an assignment of teaching.

Their job was to read Srimad Bhagavatam seven hours a day and last one hour, there was exam to assess how much they have learned. People became devotees because of that.

We have to think out of the box.

Here in Newtown Kolkata, a big project is there. You have a desire to do something big. We should think how can we do it. If everyone has that desire, then Krishna will surely fulfil.

Important Point: Devotees can explore creative ways to spread Krishna consciousness according to the circumstances and needs of different places.

HG Mukhya Devi Mataji will talk about her temple which is the biggest Iskcon temple in America.

The Growth of the ISKCON Community in Alachua, Florida

HG Mukhya Devi Mataji

In Alachua Florida there is a big university – University of Florida. Any place where Prabhupada put his feet, it became a tirtha.

There a small group of devotees were distributing books and putting money in a bank. The temple president bought 122 acres of land in countryside using the money available in bank.

The same day, when Prabhupada left the world, he signed the paper to buy the land. He considered this land, the last gift of Prabhupada to his devotees.

The community has gradually grown.

There is a charter school in Florida. You write the charter. Devotees applied because they wanted to start a charter school. The school is funded by the government and run by the devotees.

We also have a gurukul – Bhaktivedanta Academy. We have around 1,400 devotees and a big congregation because of the school.

Like other temples, we have same program – book distribution, prasadam distribution, harinam, deity worship etc. You can take darshan of the deity on the website – alacuatemple.com.

When there are lots of devotees then there are lots of opinions and devotees desire to serve Krishna.

We have there 250 Srila Prabhupada disciples, their children and also their children’s children.

Srila Prabhupada said that your grandchildren will be pure devotees, at least till 14 years they are pure devotees.

Both seniors and juniors get benefit from each other. We have grandfather grandmother day. It is a very loving family relationship.

We do prasadam distribution; we also distribute prasadam near a college.

During Christmas holidays and other US holidays, we serve prasadam to neighbourhood.

Important Point: A spiritual community can grow through many forms of service, including book distribution, prasadam distribution, harinam, deity worship, education and congregational development.

Unity in Diversity

Key thing in Iskcon is service. You should always think how can I serve the devotees.

In temple you have different devotees, some very serious in sadhana, some are upcoming, some are family members and so on.

Prabhupada said that Iskcon is better than United Nation and Alachua is real United Nation. We have devotees from every ethnic community. There are Russians, Americans, Latinos, Indians etc. All work together.

Important Point: Devotional service brings devotees from different backgrounds together in the service of Krishna.

Personal Memories of Srila Prabhupada

HG Sandamini Devi Mataji

We were initiated in 1975. At that time movement was on its peak. Every day devotees would join the temple.

Since there were many devotees, so one-to-one relationship which was possible in 1960s was not possible during that time with Prabhupada.

If Prabhupada looked or glanced on a devotee, then one would build their entire life based on that one glance.

Today devotees have so much opportunity to get near to Srila Prabhupada.

We would get some aerogram and would hear what Prabhupada said to a particular devotee. We would be waiting for Srimad Bhagavatam to come. When I joined 3rd Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam had come and 4th Canto was about to come.

Now devotees have all the books and lectures of Prabhupada on phone. So, you have to become more Krishna conscious than we are.

A Memory from Mayapur

When I came to India for the first time in 1977, I went to Mayapur. There was not much facility and whatever was there it was given to men.

They put ladies on roof of kitchen in the open sky. During rain we would be totally soaked and got sick.

So, one person took mercy on us. He put 10 of us in a 10 by 10 room. It was a very painful situation. Everyone had dysentery.

In the morning, somehow, I crawled to hear Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam class. I was trying to listen.

After the class, Prabhupada circumambulated the temple. I was sitting there among hundreds of devotees and watching Prabhupada.

Suddenly Prabhupada glanced at me. He motioned his hand as if asking me to get up. I got energy in my body; I immediately jumped up and began dancing for a minute.

He was a pure devotee, his merciful glance purified all.

Important Point: The personal association and mercy of Srila Prabhupada left a deep and lasting impression on his disciples.

HG Mukhya Devi Mataji’s Memories of Srila Prabhupada

At Detroit airport, I was there with the devotees. And all of a sudden, Prabhupada looked at me. I was thinking he is not looking at me, but he was looking at me.

There is memory tape of Prabhupada. In those tapes I heard devotees saying that at Detroit airport Prabhupada was looking at me.

Srila Prabhupada is a saktyavesha avatar, he can look simultaneously at everyone.

During early days of Iskcon, young men were brahmacharis and they did not know how to deal with matajis. It was their false renunciation.

But Prabhupada was very caring. He was concerned that women are properly taken care.

In Detroit, there was one grihastha devotee who had a small flat. Once Prabhupada was speaking in his house, the room was small. I came with my mother-in-law. She was a nice lady, was dressed nicely.

When we came, the room was full of devotees. No one was ready to move, so we could not get inside. But when Prabhupada saw, he asked us to come in. He made us sit near him.

Prabhupada was very respectful to our parents. He knew that we are dedicating our life to Krishna Consciousness, so he had great respect for our parents.

Our parents loved us but not Krishna Bhakti. And they would come to see Prabhupada because of us.

Yesterday we went to Bhaktivinod asana and other places where Prabhupada performed pastimes.

All my life I thought Krishna Consciousness started in New York, but in Kolkata I saw the place where Prabhupada first met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, where he got the instruction to spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world.

Important Lessons from the Class

• Loving relationships among devotees are an important part of Krishna consciousness.
• We should identify and overcome our anarthas and subtle bad habits.
• Humility and a service attitude are important qualities of a devotee.
• Pride and the desire for prestige can become obstacles on the path of bhakti.
• We should pray to Krishna for the strength to overcome our unwanted qualities.
• Devotees should think creatively about how to spread Krishna consciousness.
• Spiritual communities grow through the sincere service of many devotees.
• Devotees from different backgrounds can work together in the service of Krishna.
• The teachings and personal example of Srila Prabhupada continue to inspire devotees around the world.
• We should always think about how we can serve Krishna and His devotees.

Conclusion

At the end there was Question and Answer session too. Many devotees, both prabhujis and matajis, were eager to ask question and get person guidance from them. Both the matajis patiently answered devotee’s questions.

The class continued till around 2 pm.  At the end there was delicious lunch prasadam for all.

The Krishna katha and Prabhupada katha shared by HG Sandamini Devi Mataji and HG Mukhya Devi Mataji provided devotees at Iskcon Newtown Kolkata with an opportunity to hear about Krishna’s pastimes, the importance of overcoming anarthas, the growth of Iskcon communities and the personal mercy of Srila Prabhupada.