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 MoreDon't Be Attached
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You should not do anything for sense gratification. All kinds of happiness will come automatically, as it is destined. In this regard, Dattatreya has given an example of a python. The python lives only in one place. Even if he does not eat for so many days, he will not try to obtain food. If any animal automatically comes in front of him without any effort on his part, he will eat it and be satisfied. A sadhu should be like that...
Italy Morning Walk
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If the devotee commits an offense at the feet of a Vaisnava while cultivating the creeper of devotional service in the material world, his offense is compared to a mad elephant that uproots the creeper and breaks it. In this way the leaves of the creeper are dried up. So, we should be alert in this regard...
Twenty-Four Siksa Gurus
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Try to understand this. If you understand and keep this in your heart, you will never be unhappy. I see that so many are unhappy, because they don't try to understand and follow my teachings. If they will understand and follow, they will be happy. We call upon our own sufferings. Don't call them...
Prayers And Pastimes At The Time Of Taste
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We will be explaining the stage of ruci (taste for bhajana). When ruci comes there is no chance of falling down, at least it is very, very rare that one may fall. At that stage raganuga-bhakti, the greed to serve Sri Sri Radha-Krsna like the Vrajavasis will arise. When ruci comes there is a taste in chanting, remembering, hearing hari-katha...
Beware of Maya
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The Guru has no attachment to anyone, but he is merciful. He is only attached to Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. He has no lust for anything in this world. He has no time at all for anything or anyone else...
A Phoned Lecture
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On the evening of June 6, 2004, at the home of Vinodini and Arun Verma in Houston, Texas, Srila Narayana Maharaja gave a lecture near a speaker phone to 400 devotees in North Carolina. A large festival had been arranged for his weeklong hari-katha in North Carolina, but on the day he was supposed to fly there he was advised to change his plans because of health reasons...
How To Chant Diksa Mantras
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Always try to chant the holy name and don't be weak. This is also the teaching of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. You should remember and meditate, three times daily, on the diksa mantras given to you by your Gurudeva: guru-mantra, guru-gayatri, gaura-mantra, gaura-gayatri, krsna-mantra, kama-gayatri, panca-tattva mantra, and hari-nama. Never think they are useless. Like Krsna, they are very powerful...
Boycott The Sahajiya-Babajis
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I want to explain something so that you will be very careful. I am receiving questions about the books published by the babajis of Vraja. They accept Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Nityananda Prabhu, and Sri Sri Radha-Krsna Conjugal. They have not written their own books. They only take books like Stava-mala by Srila Rupa Gosvami...
The Eleventh Canto
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Don't disobey Guru, otherwise you will fall down. You should know that Gurudeva is our most dear friend. You should obey and serve him, and by that service you should always serve the divine couple Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. This is the easiest method to attain Them...
The Means To The Ends
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Vraja-prema can never come if one thinks, "My son is the Supreme Lord." If you want to have Vraja-prema one day, then, like the Vrajavasis, you will have to forget that Krsna is the Supreme Lord...
Offer Yourself, Not Just the Mango
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What is karma? Karma is any activity or endeavor that is performed with a desire to enjoy the result. If you are chanting, remembering, or performing any other devotional activity, but you want to enjoy the results of those activities, that is called karma-misra (misra means ‘mixture’) bhakti.
On Good Communication
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First try to give up all the manifestations of your false ego - like anger. If you have so much anger, you cannot understand topics about bhakti...
We should try to understand the suffering of another person. We should try to keep our own mood concealed, and try to accept and hear the other person's mood. We should try to understand the happiness and distress of another....
Introducing the Eleventh Canto
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If anyone will hear Srimad-Bhagavatam with strong faith and great honor, Lord Sri Krsna will be pleased with him and give him bhakti. That devotee will no longer experience lamentation (soka), illusion (moha), or fear (bhaya) from anything. He will cross over the cycle of birth and death forever. Therefore, Srila Vyasadeva has kindly manifested the Srimad-Bhagavatam...
Bhakti And Mukti
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You should know all siddhanta (established truths), be very humble, and honor everyone. If you are not giving proper honor to others, and instead you are thinking, "I know more than anyone," then you may even challenge your gurudeva. You may challenge Krsna, Mahaprabhu, and Rupa Gosvami. When you speak, you will take credit for yourself rather than giving credit to our acaryas. Don't do this...
Guru Nanak - Birmingham, UK: June 15, 2003 (Part 1)
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Guru Nanak is a guru who gave transcendental love and affection for the Supreme Lord. Gobind Singh is in his dynasty, or guru-parampara, as we see there in his portrait. The Sikhs were originally Hindus, and they are still Hindus. Their religious principle was to save Hindu and Sanatana-dharma from the clutches of the Muslims...
Snana Yatra
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On snāna-yātrā day a very festive mahābhiṣeka of Śrī Jagannātha, Baladeva and Subhadrā-devī is performed according to rules and regulations. Brahmā and all the other demigods participate in this ceremony without being seen. Afterwards, the curtain of the Jagannātha temple is closed and there is no darśana for fifteen days, because Śrī Jagannātha becomes sick from bathing too much...
