Rays of The Harmonist
- What Śrī Caitanya Meant by Theism
- Call Out, Weeping
- "Serving" Jīvas
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.❞ ...
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by 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.❞ ..
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝The terms jīva-sevā (service to other entities) and jīva-prema (eternal love for other entities) are fictions, contrary to conclusive truth, and are illogical. One will never attain the result of service to Śrī Bhagavān by serving the conditioned souls’ gross senses and becoming a regular purveyor of their bodily and mental demands. One can never attain a transcendental life of service by serving that which is inert or loving the illusory objects produced by māyā.❞ ...
Read MoreHumility
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You should try to be humble, but you cannot become humble simply by artificially acting so. If your bhakti increases, humility will come naturally. If you're not increasing your sadhana-bhajana of chanting Hare Krsna, not serving your Gurudeva and Vaisnavas...
Sri Siksastakam
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Once there was a wife who mistreated her husband and then rejected him. Because the husband was fully absorbed in that lady, he became so shocked and bewildered that he was about to die. We should always remember these things. When you are chanting and remembering in the association of high-class Vaisnavas, these bad attachments will leave and renunciation is bound to come. If it is not coming, something must be wrong...
Cleansing The Dust From The Heart
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I was telling yesterday that our ears, nose, tongue, and all of our senses are mundane; but Krishna's Name, krsna-katha, krsna-seva, and all things relating to Krishna are transcendental - purely transcendental. How then can these mundane senses touch the transcendental Name and other items of bhakti?
Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja and Govardhana
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A devotee asked Srila Narayana Maharaja if there was any special significance in Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja having expressed a desire to go to Govardhana at the very end of his life. The following is Srila Narayana Maharaja's reply...
Some Secrets In Bhakti
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Now come with me to Raya Ramananda on the banks of the Godavari in South India, where some discussions were going on. Mahaprabhu was asking questions and Raya Ramananda was replying. Krsna is endless, and therefore Mahaprabhu is also an endless ocean of love and affection. Even Krsna Himself cannot know how deep is the love and affection in Srimati Radhika and the gopis. He has a scale to measure it, but the love and affection for Krsna in Srimati Radhika and the gopis is so deep that His scale becomes a failure...
Revelation Of The Real Iskcon
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The bhakti that is defined here in that verse, raganuga-bhakti or Vraja-bhakti, can never be achieved simply by great quantities of sukrti. It can be achieved only if you are so fortunate as to have darsana and association of a rasika-bhakta of Vraja. That high-class devotee's heart is saturated with love and affection, like an Indian rasagulla, and everywhere there is rasa and rasa. If you squeeze a rasagulla, rasa will come out and still so much rasa will remain inside...
Introduction to Raya Ramananda Samvada
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Come with me. Let us join Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in our minds as He went from Puri to South India to search for His brother, Visvarupa. This was only a pretext, however. Actually, Mahaprabhu wanted to make all of South India, and the entire world, pure devotees. He wanted them to all chant and remember Krsna, and be happy forever.
Alloyed And Unalloyed Devotion
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Our subject is now very exalted, and I request you all to hear this high, sweet and powerful tattva-katha very attentively. I know that some of the devotees will hear it, but will keep it in cold storage after I leave. Never keep it in cold storage. We should try to go over what we have discussed, again and again, in our minds. If anything else enters your mind just after hearing hari-katha and you focus on that thing, the hari-katha may leave your heart...
Sanatana Gosvami Comes to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
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Sanatana Gosvami was very happy. It has been written: raja more priti kore emor bandhana. My wife is loving me so much that it is bondage for me. The father is giving love-it is bondage for me. What is the meaning of this sloka, do you know? It is a very important thing. If you want to follow Rupa and Sanatana, you should know this meaning and then you can follow them...
In Glorification of Srila Prabhupada
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There were so many seniors, like Pujyapada Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja and Srila Vana Maharaja and others, but Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada sprinkled so much mercy on Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada by telling him, "Your English is perfect, you are a poet and preacher, you play mrdaìga and you can do everything. You are qualified to preach this mission in the West..."
Glorification of Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja
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Seeing the wedding party, Srinivasa Acarya said, "This foolish person has obtained a poisonous black snake, and he is keeping it around his neck. That very snake will bite him and he will die, but he does not know this."
Hearing the words of Srinivasa Acarya, the bridegroom at once approached him and said, "What are you saying? I could not understand thoroughly."
The Assembly Of Srila Rupa Gosvami
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Try to realize this mood. I have explained to you the process: you must first take shelter of the lotus feet of the Guru, totally, without having any doubt in him at all. Visramabhena-guro seva (intimate service to Sri Guru), taking siksa and diksa from him - these are the root of bhakti. If you doubt him, the fruit of. bhakti will not come to you Mayadevi will take it away. Doubt can be there in the very beginning so that you can determine whether or not the Guru is bona fide...
Oh Mind, Please Worship Nanda-Nandana
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Narottama dasa Thakura, Srinivasa Acarya, and Syamananda prabhu were associates. Srinivasa Acarya was a high class of acarya. Once he was sitting in an asrama, and nearby were a newly wedded girl and her husband. Approaching the asrama, the carriers of the wedding palanquins thought to stop there for water and cooling shade. They put the palanquins down there and took water. Seeing the wedding party...
First Darśana in the West
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Our whole philosophy is based on the Gītā. On the basis of the Gītā, a loving tree like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has grown and produced very sweet smelling fruits. Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Prabhupāda has made the platform. When he came, no-one was here to welcome him; he was a penniless person. No one knew him in Western countries. But wherever I go, I see that there are big crowds dancing and singing. All are there welcoming me. This is certainly the mercy of Śrīla Swāmī Mahārājaji...
A Hint of Srila Prabhupada's Glories
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Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja came for this purpose: that from vaidhi-bhakti we will develop through sadhana-bhakti to bhava-bhakti and then to prema-bhakti. He has not only come to clear the jungles and for harinama. He wanted the people of the world to realize the identity and meaning of harinama. He did not want them to chant harinama without any rasa. He wanted them to become so attached to chanting Hare Krsna that they would not be able to ever leave it, and he wanted their taste and attachment to increase continually...
Defeating Mayavada
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Today, I am telling something about advaitavada and mayavada. In the modern day, some people think that the real meaning of the Vedanta-sutra is the advaitavada or mayavada* [see endnote 1], as preached by Sripad Sankaracarya. Sankaracarya's commentary is called Sariraka-bhasya and many people think that the philosophy expounded by him is the real meaning of the Vedanta-sutra...
