Rays of The Harmonist
- How Will We Attain Kṛṣṇa-prema?
- Symptoms of Degradation
- "There is no way I can imagine a separate institution"
by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
❝The living entity is not created; rather he is an eternal entity. Nor is the living soul inert, rather he is conscious. The independence that a living entity possesses has not been granted by anyone. Independence is innate in his existence and he only experiences distress due to misusing his independence...❞ ...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝Unnecessary gossip about others (paracarcā) and acts of hypocrisy and deceit (kuṭīnāṭī) are symptoms of degradation. These disturbances are bound to occur if there is no taste for harināma and hari-kathā. Those who are desirous of progressing in hari-bhajana must keep distance from the association of anyone who indulges in paracarcā. If they don’t, the dirtiness of their hearts can also affect the hearts of those associating with them.❞ ..
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝Many preaching centres of the Gauḍīya Maṭha have been established today in the East and West, yet I consider all of them to be a single indivisible unit. I know those who have been favoured by jagad-guru Śrīla Sarasvatī Prabhupāda and those who are his disciples and grand-disciples to be my own people, and I convey my obeisance to them, knowing them to be Gauḍīyas. I know every Vaiṣṇava who is bathed in the current of Śrī Gaura-vāṇī-vinoda (the delight of Śrī Gaura’s message) to be my supreme well-wishing friend and most intimate relative, but there is no way I can imagine a separate institution.❞ ...
Read MoreLearning Verses by Heart
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You should realize the mood of these verses. I am giving you these verses so that you will truly realize them and enter the realm of bhakti. If you see a beautiful lady, are your eyes and heart attracted to her, or not? Though you reject the idea, still your heart goes there. It is extremely difficult to be a muni, one who is undisturbed in the midst of all adversities. You must realize this, and with tears in your eyes, pray all these verses.
Lessons From The Lives Of Dhruva Maharaja And Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami
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What you are doing all day long, can you take it with you after death or not? If anyone will take they can raise their hand? Can you, your father, your mother, your friends? You cannot take anything, even a particle of dust from here. Then why are you doing all these things? To be happy! Oh, you cannot be happy by this. More problems will. They are discussing, how to be happy. How our soul will be happy?
Is Srila Jiva Gosvami Different?
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Jiva Gosvami also means to say that since the svarupa of the jiva, which is in an unmanifest or seed-like state in the jiva's conditioned life, has everything in it in seed form (as a seed of a tree has the whole tree in it). Therefore, the planet on which we live, Vaikuntha, Vrndavana, etc., is also there in the soul. In this way the parsada, the spiritual body of the jiva that is presently in a latent position can also be explained....
Srila Jiva Gosvami
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All jivas (spirit souls) have a special relationship with Sri Krsna. Some are related with Him in the mood of friendship. Others have a relationship in the mood that "Krsna is my son," and that is called parental mood (vatsalya). Moreover, some have the mood that "Krsna is my beloved." All jivas have their own original, eternal relationship with Krsna...
Srila Jiva Gosvami's Disappearance Day
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Today is a very auspicious day. It is the disappearance day of Srila Jiva Gosvami. We don't observe the disappearance days of Lord Krsna, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Rama or any other incarnation of Bhagavan, but we observe the disappearance days of His associates. By such observance we learn many things about their worshipable Sri Sri Radha-Krsna, Sriman Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda Prabhu...
Srila Jiva Gosvami's Appearance Day
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Srila Jiva Gosvami was the nephew of Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Sanatana Gosvami. He is a direct disciple of Srila Rupa Gosvami, and Srila Rupa Gosvami engaged him in the service of proofreading all his writings - his books. Actually, “proofreading” is not a completely appropriate word, because Srila Rupa Gosvami cannot make any mistakes. Rather Srila Rupa Gosvami engaged Srila Jiva Gosvami in this way, to bestow mercy upon him...
Accepting A Guru
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Vijaya: Prabhu, please give us some detailed instructions regarding accepting shelter at the lotus feet of a spiritual master (śrī-guru-pādāśraya).
A New Year's Greeting
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I wish you all a happy New Year. The New Year we are now celebrating is according to Western calculation. This mainly affects our physical body and mind, because those in the Western world are very concerned about their physical health and mind – not more than that. Very few persons in the Western world know about the soul...
Sudama Vipra Visits Dvarakadisa Krishna
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Sometimes we are very worried. How will we maintain our family, also worried for ourselves? Very worried. What is the meaning of this? That you have no belief in Krishna. If we are worried for anything in this world, what is this? What will be of this? Then you have no strong belief in Krishna. Krishna has told, "Believe Me." If Krishna is our protector...
The Appearance Day of Srila Bhaktivedanta Vamana Maharaja
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Vamana Maharaja is very grave and quiet, and there is another special quality that he possesses: I have seen many people, myself included, who give explanations from the scriptures and enjoy taking praise from others for it. But having known Vamana Maharaja for almost fifty years, I have never seen him do this, not even by accident. He is also very tolerant...
Srila Gurudeva's Tirobhava Mahotsava in Seva-kunja
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On December 15th this year, programs were held celebrating the appearnce of nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Vamana Gosvami Maharaja and the disappearance festival of nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja...
Rays - First Disappearance Day Anniversary
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The Rays of The Harmonist team humbly announces the last of three special editions published in honour of Srila Gurudeva. This beautiful third edition is dedicated to the first disappearance day anniversary of Srila Gurudeva...
Guru-Devatatma
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First, we must think that guru is our ātmā, our life and soul. Being totally surrendered to him, we must depend solely on him... If we serve Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of sad-guru, then certainly, like magic, we will be out of māyā...
Javala and Satyakama
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Javala was a widow. She had one young son named Satyakama. One day, Satyakama approached her and said, "Mother, I want to adopt a vow of sacred celibacy and take up residence in the school of my guru. But to do so, I must know my family lineage."
King Janastruti and Raika Muni
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I am willing to be humiliated, reprimanded and heavily beaten by maya hundreds of times, but I cannot accept or tolerate the affectionate, transcendental discipline of Sri Gurudeva. Consequently, I forever relinquish devotional service to Krsna and thus I commit spiritual suicide...
A Christmas Message
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Today is Christmas Day, the birthday of Jesus Christ. In Europe and other countries, hardly anyone knows what Jesus Christ was doing in his youth, at around 15 years of age. Indian history shows that he was in India, where he visited Vrndavana, Ayodya, Jagannatha Puri, and other pilgrimage places...
