Rays of The Harmonist
- To Refute Misconceptions is Guru-sevā
- Appropriate Renunciation
- Sannyasa-garb Won't Make It Easier
by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝To refute misconceptions is guru-sevā. If, at any point, one can understand that someone is giving misleading teachings, one should, in a civil manner, refute them and establish the faultless siddhānta. Doing so is the ideal of conviction in service to guru. If, despite knowing and hearing the truth, one conceals it, hypocrisy finds its outlet, and that entails a lapse of duty. This (refuting someone’s views) is never contrary to humility or amānī-mānada-dharma.❞ ...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝The renunciation by which the body becomes completely useless and which awakens impediments to hari-bhajana is not favourable for bhakti. You must accept bhagavat-prasāda appropriately. It is indeed proper to accept all the objects of the senses that are essential for one’s well-being, in a manner that is favourable for one’s kṛṣṇa-bhajana.❞ ...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
❝It is essential to have full confidence in Bhagavan. It is equally essential to have similar firm determination to perform hari-bhajana, the process of devotional service. I must receive His grace. I must not go astray. I must always go on chanting His name. God will undoubtedly help me if I am bona fide.❞ ...
Read MoreViraha-bhajana
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Narāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Those who remain under the shelter of śrī guru will experience intense waves of separation from him when he is no longer manifest, and those waves will surely increase to their utmost magnitude.
What Kind Of Devotee Is Dhruva Maharaja?
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There are many gradations of bhakti and bhaktas, as explained by Srila Sanatana Gosvami in his Brhat Bhagavatamrta. The first category is the sakama-bhakta, then the jnani-bhakta, then the suddha (pure) bhakta, the premi-bhakta, the premapara-bhakta, and finally the prematura-bhakta ...
Even Krsna Accepted A Guru
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Without accepting guru, the name one chants is not transcendental. That name will fulfill your worldly desires, even up to mukti (liberation), but not more than this. In the case of Ajamila, at first he had no guru. He named his son Narayana at the nama-samskara, the ritualistic ceremony in which babies are given their name. By chance...
Occasional Religion Should Melt Away
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This is our object as well, but as far as we are concerned, we waste so much of our time and energy in maintenance. Though we are devotees, our whole time is entangled and we have no time for remembering and chanting. We think, "If we give our whole time to devotional activities, our business will fail. How, then, will we be able to maintain ourselves?" We have no belief in Krsna, and we have no belief that He will continue our maintenance. He is the main root of our maintenance...
The Clear Path
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Always try to follow the teachings of the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, and try to follow Srila Rupa Gosvami's Upadesamrta and Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami's Sri Manah-siksa. This is first. Then, try to gradually come to the stage of rati (bhava-bhakti), at which time all of Krsna's pastimes will automatically manifest in a very pure form. Try to follow these instructions. Go through the channel opened by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and by our guru-parampara, and especially by Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami...
What If Guru Is Not Pure?
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If a guru is not serving his own gurudeva, he has left the process given by him, and his guru is not satisfied by his behavior - only in that case can we reject him. However, if the guru is a madhyama-adhikari and sincere, if he is very obedient and following the footsteps of his guru, then...
Be Careful
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If we imagine that we are meditating on Krsna's asta-kaliya-lila and we have not reached the stage of rati, we will also not experience His sweetness. Rather, we will experience our own lusty and other material desires...
The Guru's Guru
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You cannot imagine what this stage will be like. It will come, after a very long time. That is the general process. However, by the mercy of Gurudeva, it can come very quickly. Sannyasi Thakura said to his Gurudeva, "You are Caitanya parisad (an associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu). Really you are." He did not say this blindly, because he had some realization. He had read all the scriptures, and he saw all the symptoms in his Gurudeva...
Rays of the Harmonist in Dutch
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Recent Rays of the Harmonist English articles have been translated into Dutch for the pleasure of Srila Gurudeva and the Dutch speaking devotees. You can find those articles here:
The Ocean Of Essence in a Bottle
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Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written this book in the form of a dialogue, with questions and answers. You would not be able to even think of as many questions as Bhaktivinoda Thakura has presented there. As many questions as are possible to be asked has been presented there. No one else could have put forward such questions...
Why Prabhupada Called Me to the West
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Don't follow the sahajiyas. We should be very careful to avoid trying to become 'goopis' or to follow their ideas. Rather, we should try to follow Saptama Gosvami (the Seventh Gosvami), Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja...
Explanation Of Vibhavari Sesa
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Now the night is over and dawn is coming. All living entities should wake up with the rising of the dawn and chant these names of the Lord. What is the meaning? Try to hear very carefully...
Divine Installation
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I have been traveling around the world, preaching Vedic culture. The Vedic teaching is that we are not this body. This body is made of bones and blood. We are eternal, but this body is perishable. All the world’s scientists and doctors cannot extend a person’s life for even one second. In the heart of this body, we souls reside along with Paramatma, the Lord’s localized four-armed expansion...
Sri Guru - More Intimate Than Our Atma
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First, we must think that guru is our atma. Being totally surrendered to him, we must depend solely on him. Tan abhajet. Tan means the Supreme Lord, Krsna. If we serve Krsna under the guidance of sad-guru, then certainly, like magic, we will be out of maya....
Sri Krsna's Kartika Rasa-lila
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One year after Krsna made His promise to the gopis, on the full-moon night in autumn He looked at the moon and began to play His flute. He considered, "Our forefather, the moon, has a beloved other than his wife, Rohini. His beloved is Purva-disa, the eastern horizon...
Govardhana/Kartik Mornings Discourses
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During the first half of Kartika, Srila Maharaja gave discourses at Gopinatha Bhavan in Vrndavana each evening, and called upon others to speak as well. He discussed the life and precepts of the Savior of this Age of quarrel and hypocrisy, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, with reference to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. He also discussed the Lord’s divine pastime places visited by the devotees during the day. In the mornings he spoke on the abounding philosophy and sweetness of the pastime of Mother Yasoda binding Krsna – Sri Damodara-lila...
