Have you heard of Upamanyu? His guru once told him, "Oh, you go out to graze cows all day, and you do not bring with you anything to eat, and yet you are very healthy and fat. Why is that? Do you drink milk from the cows udders?" Upamanyu replied, "Yes I do." His guru told him, "Don't drink it anymore", but he did not tell him what he would be allowed to eat or drink. During the next days Upamanyu continued to go out...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
There is no need of doing all these things. Because six gosvamis, what they have done we should do. They have not done anything like this, Katyayani-vrata and all these things. We should not [go] across them. We should do what they have done. Otherwise, we cannot have gopi-bhava.
You have been following some rules and regulations during the four months of Catur-masya, and especially during this one month of Kartika. This is now completed. We have also given some “wind-up,” so that you will be able to go on for the next four months. Then, after four months another winding will be given in Navadvipa-dhama. I am inviting you all. Not only should you all come, but each of you should bring ten people from your country. I want at least 15-20,000 devotees to come and perform parikrama in Navadvipa...
By the causeless mercy of my Gurudeva, Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, my Gurupada-padma (siksa-gurus) and Gandharvika-Giridhari Sri Sri Radha-Vinoda-bihari, our Vraja-Mandala parikrama is very successful in all respects.
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...
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...
For the service of the brhad-mrdanga (book publication), Srila Puri Maharaja stayed in various places like Calcutta, Krsna Nagar, and Mayapura. For the sake of preaching gaura-vani, the message of Gaurasundara, he traveled not only throughout Bengal, but also to many places throughout India, and he met with great success...
Srila Sanatana Gosvami explained the mood of this prayer in Brhad-Bhagavatamrta. The devotee does not fear taking any birth. For example, although Vrtasura took birth as a demon, he was always glorifying Krsna's pastimes...
We cannot touch Srila Gaura-kishora dasa Babaji Maharaja’s renounced lifestyle and high standard of bhajana, but we can at least accept and follow whatever lower principles that he established for us and practised in his own life. After making sufficient spiritual progress, we may be able to accept the higher things, but we should not desire to follow them in our present condition. Who can possibly follow his extreme renunciation...
Those who have attended this parikrama should think about why they have come. We have come here to earn bhakti, especially suddha-bhakti (pure devotion), and more especially vraja-bhakti - the very highest attainment. We have come to the best place in the world - Vraja. In Vraja, superior to Gokula is Nandagaon and Varsana, more superior is Vrndavana, more superior is Govardhana and most superior is Radha-kunda. You have come here, so we should not have any desire other than vraja-bhakti and radha-dasyam...
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