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by Śrīla Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja
Glorification of the exalted ācārya on his disappearance day The inclination to remember Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in the mode of separation The sat-cit-ānanda vastu is the truly abiding substance composed of pure eternal reality, cognizance and bliss. If sat-cit-ānanda vastu remains hidden from our view, from the ordinary people of this plane, we will not be able to conceive...
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by Śrīla Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja
When it comes to discussing the life of mahā-puruṣas (great self-realized personalities who are transcendental to mortal existence), it would be a mistake to consider their birth, life span and death to be similar to that of mere mortals, because mahā-puruṣas are beyond birth and death. They are situated in eternal existence, and their coming and going from this world is strictly a matter of their own appearance and disappearance...
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by Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
The word mātsarya is used with different meanings in different contexts. Among its various meanings we find ‘enviousness of others’ good-fortune’, ‘distressed because of their success’, ‘malice’ and ‘jealousy’. Wherever the word mātsarya has been used in the Vaiṣṇava scriptures, it refers to that mood which is adverse to prema (pure love).
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
It is on this very day that Bhagavān reinitiates Satya-yuga after destroying the atheists [the so called] Buddhists in His incarnation as Kalki. ...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
My śrī guru-pādapadma is not a teacher of any of the illusory subjects of this world, which are aimed only at enjoyment. Yet, at the same time, he alone is the indisputable genius in every subject in this world. Sadly, because I am deprived and fallen, because of my own weaknesses, not all of my guru-pādapadma’s teachings have entered my heart...
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by Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
To the degree that we endeavour to develop ourselves spiritually, to become religious, to maintain a renounced life, and to deliberate on and discuss jñāna, we desire our own honour and distinction (pratiṣṭhā). This desire contaminates our hearts and pollutes our characters. Although we make a great effort to control lust, anger, greed, illusion and envy, and although we perform severe austerities to control the senses, concealed within our hearts the desire for pratiṣṭhā, in the form of a wild infant animal, continues to grow...
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by Śrīla Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja
Whatever we know about birth and death in this world does not apply to Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. In fact, instead of saying ‘birth’ and ‘death’, the Vaiṣṇavas use the terms āvirbhāva and tirobhāva, ‘appearance’ and ‘disappearance’, prakaṭa and aprakaṭa, ‘manifested’ and ‘un-manifested’, and so forth...
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by Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Once, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had a dream in which he was wandering in the sky chanting the holy name. He came upon the court of Yamarāja, where Yamarāja himself was sitting with Brahmā, Nārada, and others discussing a point from a verse in Bhagavad-gītā ...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
Do not slacken your endeavours to chant the holy names just because material thoughts arise in your mind while you are chanting. ...
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by Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Vamana Gosvami Maharaja
Our faults and misfortune are the results of our forgetting Bhagavan and we will never be fortunate enough to remember Him as long as we are forgetful of sri guru and the Vaisnavas. Therefore, when we perform bhajana, it is imperative that we first remember sri guru and the Vaisnavas. First we must pray for their mercy; only then can we pray for service to Bhagavan Sri Hari. The scriptures describe this to be the one and only process for remembering Him....
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝By the mercy of this mahāpuruṣa [Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja], in the time spanning the past twenty-six years, Kali has not yet been able to exert any influence over me. I offer my śraddhā-puṣpāñjali unto the lotus feet of this mahāpuruṣa.❞ ...
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Remembrances of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝Once, when I (Rasika-rañjana dāsādhikārī) was in Navadvīpa, I went to offer praṇāmas to pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja in his bhajana-kuṭīra. As we discussed various topics, pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja said, “Once, in a conversation with Vāmana Mahārāja, I said to him, ‘Mahārāja when I will grow old, who will take care of me and make efforts to help me? I am getting worried about this even now.’ Vāmana Mahārāja replied, ‘You should not worry about this. If nobody will be there, I will personally take care of you and will personally clean your urine and stool. In this regard you need have no worry or anxiety.’ The way Vāmana Mahārāja said this to me actually made me free from any anxiety or worry. And he did not speak mere words. He has actually been very conscientious about this.” While speaking this incident, tears began to roll down from the eyes of pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja.❞ ...
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Memories of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Once, the day before pūjyapāda Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja was to arrive in Kolkata from his first preaching tour abroad, Guru Mahārāja said to everyone, “Go and decorate the temple very nicely. Also nicely decorate the room that Śrīla Mahārāja will be staying in.” In the evening Guru Mahārāja went to the temple for darśana and saw that it had not been decorated. “If none of you have the time to do it, I will personally collect the flowers.” Hearing him say this, the brahmacārīs immediately went to the market and brought many kinds of flowers and other decorations. They nicely decorated Ṭhākurajī’s temple and then went to Guru Mahārāja’s room to decorate it. Guru Mahārāja said, “First ṭhākura-sevā, after that, vaiṣṇava-sevā, and after that, my sevā. Even though there is no need to decorate my room, if Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja sees it not decorated [but that his own room is decorated], it will make him feel uneasy. Our only aim is the pleasure and satisfaction of guru and Vaiṣṇavas, so decorate my room as well.” ...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Whenever he would see me, he would shower me with an affection that had a simple, natural intimacy (laukika-sadbandhuvat). As much as possible, he did not like dealings that were filled with giving him honour (maryādā). ...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
Once my most worshipable guru-pādapadma, aṣṭottara-śata-śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, accompanied by five or six sannyāsīs and ten to twelve brahmacārīs, arrived at Śrī Gaura-vāṇī-vinoda Āśrama in Subhāṣpallī, Khaḍagpura [West Bengal]. ...
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by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja
[O Krsna!] Although I have been ordered to accomplish this mission, I possess no qualification to do it, being very fallen and incapable. Since You are the wisest of all, I now beg for Your mercy so that I may become worthy...