Rays of The Harmonist
- Remain in the Line of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
- What Śrī Caitanya Meant by Theism
- Call Out, Weeping
by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is a liberated mahāpuruṣa. After the six Gosvamīs, he is the seventh Gosvāmī. His Jaiva-dharma, his other books, all his books that are there, his commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that is no longer available, his commentary on Vedānta and his commentaries on all Gosvāmīs’ literatures, beginning from Vilāpa-kusmañjali to Manaḥ-śikṣā and so on, Mahaprabhu’s Śikṣāṣṭaka, Upadeśāmṛta – he has written a commentary on all of them after deeply entering [realizing the essence of] those books. If anyone opposes one such as Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, should we go to such a person? Never! Don’t go! Not to speak of gopī-prema, even if he gives everything [related to that], then also, don’t go. Understand this: what he is giving is not gopī-prema. Do not be khaḍa-jaṭhiyā. ❞ ..
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
❝The Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya has asked all sections of the people of this world not to tamper with or mutilate the Absolute Truth with their crippled attempts to regulate Him, but rather to approach Him with an absolutely clean and sincere heart, in which His own feature will be revealed.❞ ...
Read Moreby Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝In happiness and distress, in dissent and calamity, in every situation, we have to call out, weeping, to Śrī Gurudeva, Śrī Gauracandra and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa at every moment. If we are calling out to them sincerely, they will surely bestow their mercy. However, we face obstacles in our calling out.❞ ..
Read MoreOur Goal of Life
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In the Gambhira, along with Raya Ramananda and Svarupa Damodara, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to hear all these sweet pastimes of Krsna. At that time His transcendental body was full with ecstatic symptoms. Sometimes the limbs of His body entered into His body and He became like a tortoise, and sometimes other symptoms manifested. If you will remember all these sweet pastimes, your life will be successful...
Can A Devotee Suffer?
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Devotees who are chanting Sri Krsna’s name and practicing pure devotion to Krsna have no karma. For them, suffering and problems that come to them means that Krsna wants them to be humble and tolerant. Such devotees should think, “Oh, I am very wretched.” This humility will come. So, Krsna personally gives them this suffering. It is not the fruit of their karma...
Closing Words
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Depend on Sri Krsna. At least develop saranagati, practicing the six types of surrender – always consider that Sri Krsna is your protector. No other person can protect you. Depend on Krsna, not anyone else. Be like Gangamata Thakurani...
Meeting and Separation in The Pastimes of Lord Ramacandra
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In Treta Yuga, Lord Ramacandra, Sita devi, and Laksmana went to Mamagachi. Under the shade of a large banyan tree, Sita Devi observed that Lord Rama was smiling mildly.
She inquired, “O Lord, what is the cause of your amusement?”
The Glories of Hanuman
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Now we are coming to our subject - where we left off in Badger. Why do we prefer Ambarisa Maharaja over Prahlada Maharaja? Prahlada Maharaja is a siddha-bhakta and parama-mahabhagavata (a perfected devotee situated at the stage of prema, love of God), and Ambarisa Maharaja is a sadhaka-bhakta (a practitioner at the stage of bhava-bhakti) So why do we want to follow Ambarisa Maharaja?
The Appearance day of Lord Ramacandra
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In ancient times there was a king named Maharaja Dasaratha. He was a very, very strong personality. He conquered all kings in the South, North, East, West, and everywhere. Therefore his name was Dasa-ratha, meaning that his chariot went everywhere in the ten directions...
Rama Navami - The Appearance day of Lord Sri Rama
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We must be one-pointed to Lord Sri Krsna, not to any other. Do you understand? Why then are we worshiping Lord Ramacandra? Someone may say, "This is not one pointed." But that is not the fact. Sri Krsna is akhila-rasamrta-sindhu. He is the enjoyer of all rasas: dasya (servitude), sakhya (friendship)...
Rama-Navami - Bangkok, Thailand
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Do you know the history of Ramayana? Maharaja Dasaratha had three hundred-sixty queens, but no sons. One day he went hunting, and in the evening he met a friend of his who was also a king. That king had a very beautiful daughter named Kaikeyi, and he engaged her in serving Maharaja Dasaratha, who was very pleased with both her services and beauty...
Rama Navami
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Do you know the history of Ramayana? Maharaja Dasaratha had three hundred and sixty queens, but no sons. One day he went hunting, and in the evening he met a friend of his who was a king. The king had a very beautiful daughter named Kaikeyi, and he engaged her in serving Maharaja Dasaratha. Maharaja Dasaratha was very pleased with both her services and her beauty...
The Appearance Day Of Lord Sri Rama
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Who is Sri Rama? He is Krsna Himself, and Sita is Radhika Herself. In order to establish the principles of maryada, regulative etiquette, Krsna appeared in the form of Sri Rama. His associates also appeared in Rama-lila. Gopisvara Mahadeva manifested as Hanuman and Baladeva appeared as Laksmana. Satrugna and Bharata are also manifestations of Krsna because they are His weapons...
Glorification of Sri Sita-Rama
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Janaka Maharaja had given the definition of bhakti to Lord Rama’s brother, Bharata. "Anyabhilasita-sunyam, jnana-karmady-anavrtam, anukulyana krsnanu-silanam bhaktir uttama. One who has no other desire than to please Krsna, and who is not influenced by the process of jnana-marga (cultivation of knowledge) karma, and so on, is situated in pure bhakti.” The king told him that nothing can control prema (pure love of God); it has its own law. One who has prema will always consider the desires of his object of love. He has no personal interest. He will always think, "How will my beloved be pleased?" Our real purpose is to please our worshipful deity, God and Guru; not to please ourselves."
Rama-navami in Mathura
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Rama-katha is endless. Sankarsana (Lord Anantadeva) himself continuously sings the glories of Sri Rama, but even with unlimited mouths he is unable to touch the end in any way. We can just relish, and pray that these infinite pastimes may appear in our heart. Tulasi dasa has written Rama-caritra-manasa, which is based on Sri Valmiki's Ramayana. All the pastimes written by Tulasi dasa come from the Ramayana and other Puranas, but the principles of bhakti that he gave there have been taken from Srimad-Bhagavatam. He presented important selected verses, especially from the eleventh canto, and translated them into Hindi poetry.
God in Book Form
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In our brahma-gayatri and in all our gayatri mantras, the word "pracodayat" occurs. "Dhiyo yo nah pracodayat." "Tan no gaurah pracodayat." We are in the disciplic line from Srila Vyasadeva. If you are like Srila Vyasadeva, with no worldly desires at all, then "evam prasanna manasah" – you will be happy by body, mind and soul; you will be able to have the darsana of Lord Krsna. You will see Him face to face, and you will see His sweet pastimes, from beginning to end...
Inconceivable Jiva-Tattva
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It is not that everything can be compared in every respect, so there are only some similarities in this analogy. Not everything is similar. For example, the seed of a tree is not cetana (conscious, or alive), but atma, the soul, is cetana. Maya is not present in the atma. There are no clouds in the sun; but they are outside of the sun. We see the clouds, but those who are above the clouds are always seeing the sun; they do not see clouds. Similarly, self-realized souls like Sri Narada Rsi can see that we are always serving, even though we are conditioned souls...
Opening Words
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Try to realize the writings of Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is called Saptama Gosvami – the Seventh Gosvami. He has written so many books. We should especially read his Jaiva Dharma. Whatever he wrote was personally realized by him...
A Loving Darsana in the Corridor
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We should practice that yoga which is favorable, and we should reject that yoga which is not favorable. Vyasadeva was also a yogi and so many maharsis and rsis were yogis, but they were not patanjali yogis; they were bhakti-yogis. Bhakti-yoga is very easy...
