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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
The writings of Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda provide the golden bridge by which the mental speculationist can safely cross the raging waters of fruitless empiric controversies that trouble the peace of those who choose to trust in their guidance for finding the Truth. As soon as the sympathetic reader is in a position to appreciate the sterling quality of Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda’s philosophy the entire vista of the revealed literatures of the world will automatically open out to his reclaimed vision...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
It is enjoined that those who observe the Urjja-vrata during the months of Kārtika in the holy city of Mathurā practice strict asceticism. They must spend the whole day and night hearing discourses and chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa in the company of devotees. Such strict observance of the Kārtika vrata, when performed with faith in the company of pure devotees, produces the genuine inclination to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
Because human intellect is driven by the modes of passion and ignorance, it cannot penetrate deliberations of the mode of unalloyed goodness. So, when someone advises us to supplement pure bhakti with worldly disciplines in order to make it complete, it is to our benefit to not accept their advice. Such a mixture is detrimental to our true well-being. It is like mixing mortar into a deliciously sweet desert...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
When the conception of being a fully protected and maintained maidservant of Sri Vrsabhanu-nandini appears in our heart, then no other worldly identifications, which are all insignificant in comparison, can overpower it...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
It is important to know what service, or sevā, is. To provide pleasure to the object of our service is the sole meaning of the word sevā. Śrī Hari is the fountainhead and origin of all beings. We are all factually servants of Śrī Hari, and serving Him is our sole dharma, our constitutional function, activity and duty. By serving Him, everyone else is served. This is confirmed by the verse “yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena – by watering the root of a tree, all the branches and leaves are nourished.”...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
He knows nothing but śrī guru. Under all circumstances – while he is sleeping or dreaming or eating or engaged in bhajana – he is always thinking of śrī gurudeva, taking his guidance and following in his footsteps. He knows that śrī gurudeva, who is very dear to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is completely independent and is īśvara-vastu – an entity non-different from the Supreme Controller, Śrī Bhagavān....
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
The author of the aphorisms detected within himself an apprehension that such insinuations might arise, so he undertook the task of furnishing a true interpretation that might check the potential exploiters, reveal their ridiculousness, and thus prevent them from diverting the people from the Absolute Truth....
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by disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada
Prahlada’s only ‘fault’ was that he began preaching about the Absolute Truth. If, in preaching the Truth, even a father can become the enemy of his own son, is there anything surprising if those who are adverse to the Absolute Truth and prone to selfishness deem the expounders of Reality their enemies?...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
While regularly chanting the holy name, His form, qualities and pastimes shall be naturally realized... One need not endeavour to artificially remember them... For those who chant the holy names the egoistic gross and subtle bodies are removed and their eternal constitutional form is awakened. And śrī nāma alone awakens one’s eternal constitutional activities, thereby causing attraction to Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental pastimes... “Service to the holy name” includes any essential activities the practitioner must perform – such as maintaining the body – in order to continue chanting the holy names...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
Savants of different ages and different countries have formulated many scholastic views in their efforts to answer, according to their whims, the great epistemological and cosmological questions. But these views have very little value when realization of the Absolute begins to play within the soul of the unalloyed servant...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Sometimes I even think it would be best for me to abandon the shelter of a gurudeva as controlling as mine altogether, and to accept the mantra elsewhere, from someone who doesn’t demand that I pay attention to all the rules and regulations. Thus, I occasionally contemplate severing my ties with the Gauḍīya Maṭha completely. What stops me, however, is the thought that if people were to find out that I had broken my connection with Śrī Guru, it could jeopardise my prestige and position...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
Our taste for hearing harikatha and our inclination to serve Śrī Hari shall itself separate us from unfavourable association. And if we constantly beseech śrī guru and Gaurāṇga for their mercy while we read and discuss the spiritual books and periodicals of our great ācāryas, then we can achieve the same benefit we would achieve by listening to harikathā directly from the mouths of the devotees....