right on the line-gaudiya siddhanta

Srila Prabhupada consoles a devotee

2009-05-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

I heard after coming from Puri that the Boy ' Tota' had passed away.though Tota is your son ,he is a devotee of the Lord. a Vaishnava had come to your house and you have served him and he taking whatever services from you has left accordingly.The living entity comes into this material world by the effects of his previous works and later after the demise of his body is sent by Baladeva according to his merit to a proper situation.If you have considered serving Lord Vishnu in the form of your son then you would not have such a loss;The Lord as the Supersoul existed in your son ,continue serving the Lord and do not be disturbed.The body of Tota' has mixed with the elements though he is still steadfastly engaged in the service of the Lord somewhere.Actually the real enjoyer is the Supreme Lord and Tota is in his proper place in his devout service to the Lord somewherelse.The Lord is showering His causeless mercy on you because he is taking you over the conditioning of this world.Remember the action taken by the son of Vyasa on the event of his birth,also in the Chaitanya Bhaghavat,Mahaprabhu did tell his mother,wife and relatives on the day of taking the renounced order,' that as a human being I have different relationships with all of You but please give me a chance to serve Lord Hari in my independent way and endeavour to establish in my absence the connection you have for me with the Supreme Lord.You should take this advice to heart and in the absence of Tota to establish the relation with the Supreme Lord.Everything the Lord does is for the good of humanity.I am only a conditioned soul and that is the limit of my understanding.

anathas and how to overcome it

2009-05-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

Most people are fixed in following their own devious methods which are not recommeneded by scripture or saintly people therefore the gaudiya sampradaya does not give give indulgence to such.This is the nature of 'anartha'Those who indulge in blasphemy accumalate offences and suffer greatly.The devotees follow the divine message of Mahaprabhu and give up the path of inauspiciousness while renouncing all bad association.Our predecessor acaryas have always exclaimed that one should give up Bad association and take to Holy association whilst doing our bhajan.It is of paramount importance to give up those who are are enmeshed in their anarthas so to speak and take to the spiritual teachings of the highly evolved saints who can cut out our anarthas.Sometimes a devotee who is full of anarthas may pretend to serve the Lord whilst engaging in all sorts of wrong doings , but that cannot be in any way termed as bhakti or devotion to the Lord.
There are many who are completely deviant in their understanding of the gaudiya siddhanta or
conclusions and by nurturing such they end up to become the greatest enemies of the sampradaya.Such type of bad association should definitely be avoided if one wants to make spiritual advancement.The other way to overcome anarthas is to keep a fixed count on the chanting of a lakh of holy names daily and endeavour to maintain it.
Those who are eagerly accumalating weath and objects of pleasure for sense enjoyment fall down ,the devotees are always compassionate upon such people and that is the real compassion exhibited in their preaching.Those who have become overcome by offenses should follow Mahaprabhu's regime and instruction in order to overcome such offenses.Still,for the sincere disciple who may be committing offenses ,the divine spiritual master may easily wipe out such offenses and set his disciple afresh while those who do not have a guru will certainly die in their anarthas.

eclipse of the moon

2009-05-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

Usually the time of the esclipse whether of the sun or the moon is considered an impure time .In this context, impure time is in regard to the performance of religous activities which is conducted usually and in this inauspicious time all such are regarded as taboo.According to Srila Prabhupada, one who is following the regulated principles of devotional service in our disciplic sucession should not neglect such rules completely but adjust in such a way that the maximum service to the Lord can be made possible in these circumstances.Before Mahaprabhu preached the doctrine of love at that time the devotees used to bathe in the Ganga at the time of eclipse according to regulation.But after the propogation of the Holy Name the holy name is considered the most important in comparison to other rituals and should chanted all the time'There is no auspicious or inauspicious time in regard to this.Those who want to aquire pious activities think greatly in terms of all the above rituals and are very rigid in observance of such rules to the letter.In contrast the devotees of the Lord think all these rules as insignificant and do not do any works in expectation of the results.

Sriman Mahaprabhu did not advocate caste differenciation

2009-03-29T23:09:00.000-07:00

During one time a scholar of the Brahma Samaj came to see Srila Prabhupad and he was of the opinion that Mahaprabhu was an advocate of the caste differentiation that was prevalent in those times. Srila Prabhupad firmly refuted this point by remarking that Sriman Mahaprabhu was neutral on that score and unattached but in order to make for less chaos in society, he externally followed the strictures of behavior as exhibited by all people especially the ritualistic workers ,he being of the higher caste Himself. Notwithstanding, there was never a time that he regarded a devotee of the Lord in terms of his birth or caste while on the other hand, he rigidly did not accept cooked food from non devotees even though the person concerned may hail from a high caste. This was typical in all His dealings .Only the Brahmin who daily chanted a lakh of holy names and worshipped Vishnu purely was able to able to serve and offer Him cooked grains. In this context there is the example of the Sannodiya Brahmin who was a simple and pure devotee and disciple of Madhvendra Puri who’s cooking would be taboo in normal circumstances for ascetics to accept but Mahaprabhu did eat in his house. In short, one of the most important instruction that Mahaprabhu had left the world is not to consider and treat a devotee on the stigma of his previous birth or caste and also to view the remnants of the food offered to the Supreme Lord in the perspective of ordinary rice, dhal or grain. The servants of the Lord and the food offered to the Lord are all transcendental and cannot be compared to as material therefore Mahaprabhu forbade such differentiation in this respect. The smarta or ritualistic workers are adamant in their defense of caste preservation while the Brahma Samaj and like societies want to end it all together .In this respect the devotees only want to serve the Lord and act favorably to carry out devotional service while giving up all such designations which is in the bodily conception of life .

The Names of Gaura and Nityananda

2009-03-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

In our materially contaminated state the holy name of Krishna which is transcendental cannot be savoured to the full measure, for the offender to the Name is not able to attain devotional bliss or love of Godhead.In that impure condition, if the living entity is able to chant the name of Gaura- Nityananda with devotional sincerity then his impurities gradually fade away.Conversely, if one takes the Names of the Lordships in order to increase his bodily enjoyments including one's name and fame then his chanting of the name of Gaura will not have any spiritual bearing in the least.A simple example to illustrate this point is say Calcutta is 2 miles west of Howrah but if any one walking two miles in the eastern direction from Calcutta were to audaciously claim that he had reached Howrah, then he will definitely be in illusion.In the same way a pilgrim who though chanting offensively is unaware of the fact thinking his chanting is on a divine plane but the fact remains that he will never be able to get Love of Godhead.There are some goons and rogues too who also take the name of Gaura-Nityananda to commit robberies and looting,however such type of chanting can never bring any auspicious results.Their Lordships Gaura -Nityananda are most compassionate and therefore the sincere souls who take their names in submission and humility will receive their mercy to the full measure in that their offences will be mitigated and they will be able to obtain Love of Godhead.The son is important only because he is able to save his father from hell but if the son does not do devotional service to Lord Hari then the name son is merely a farce because his father will never derive any benefit in his after life and his attempt in raising such children is simply troublesome endeavour.

The best solution to all the common problems facing the world today

2009-03-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

SriChaitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed the devotees to perform welfare work for society,many people have a muddled conception of welfare work thinking it in the context of helping the poor or the unfortunate amongst society,In actual fact, real help is not some tiny,narrow,fluctuating temporary benefit for the individual as fathomed by the majority.Most of the so called welfare work that had been misconstrued by different people for the individual or nation benefit has never succeeded in solving the main problems that society faces today.The Bhagavat announces :
vedyam vastav atra vastu sivadam tapatrayonmulanam
which means only delving into the real truth which is auspicious can provide succour from the three forms of material miseries besetting the misguided people of now .Those people who have tried to counter these miseries by their speculative methods have only been able to provide some temporary relief for the public but such have failed to avert continual distress in the long run.As long as the cause of all our problems is not investigated there will never be a permanent solution.An example is if the root of a Banyan tree is uprooted then only will the tree be destroyed but simply cutting of its numerous branches time and again will not stop the tree from growing.Another comparison is of all the methods devised by man for so called world benefit is like trying to dry a ocean with thousands of people using their palms to scoop out the water.Do you think we can dry an ocean in that manner?Artificial methods are simply in vain for the real problems that face society except for the one mentioned above regarding the Supreme Truth.The insurmountable, illusory energy of the Supreme Lord covers us in manifold ways and until and unless we can mitigate this there will be always constant difficulties.In short, until we can perform devotional service to the Supreme Lord by service and surrender, there is no other way to escape distress.The Supreme Lord is the only complete Being ,full of all opulence's and the supreme of all truths ,by glorifying Him and service to Him alone can all nations and individuals alike aspire for peace and contentment .He is beyond the mind and senses of ordinary men so it is foolish to evaluate the Creator by the ordinary,puny mind which He has endowed all mortals .He is the goal of all who want to drink immortality.The only way to know him is to ascend the eternal path traversed by the great souls who have actually realized the Supreme Truth in the heart and stand testimony to the words of the Holy Scripture by their actions.The basis of all is simple faith and obedience to His words and with the guidance of saintly people all of a nation's woes will definitely go to naught,but unfortunately blind leaders who cannot see only warrant chaos for the general bewildered population for they do not see what is essential for the permanent welfare of the populace.

the Truth of Sriman Mahaprahu

2009-03-09T00:13:00.000-07:00

Sriman Mahaprabhu played the part of a householder in Nawadvip not only to rejuvenate the consciousness of the afflicted people who was immersed in material consciousness but also to award practical instruction to the majority of the householders of how to lead a spiritually attuned life.He told his wife and mother to view the Supreme Lord Krishna in the mood of , husband and son respectively and thus be able to overcome ordinary attachments of affection.Later, He took the renounced order leaving his young wife and old mother to mitigate the distress of the fallen suffering souls of the world.There is a difference between the renunciation of Lord Buddha and that of Sriman Mahaprabhu for Mahaprabhu did not aspire for either enlightenment nor was he trying to give up the bondage accruing to family life.He was replete in knowledge and all the godly opulence but out of compassion for the fallen souls ,He took the renounced order to be able to shower the highest gift of pure devotional service to the masses that had never been given so easily by any other incarnation of the Lord .For that reason, He is acclaimed as the most magnanimous.He was never in lack of anything, no fear of that for He was the Supreme Lord Himself, for the reason ,He had the sole monopoly of that pure devotional mellows and only He was eligible to give that spiritual nectar which is aspired by even the demigods including Lord Siva and Lord Brahma.Nobody else can give what He had given except the Supreme Lord ,Krishna so that stands to testimony that He is the Supreme Lord.He did not discriminate in the matter of giving for even trees and many fierce animals like elephants and tigers were subjects of His mercy as the records unravel.He awarded his mercy to the most fallen and lowly who were humble to plead before Him, ignoring those who were puffed up with their wealth,knowledge and so called aristocratic birth .To the Supreme Lord such arrogance and exhibition were comparable to straw.To those that were repentant and approached him with humility he gave them the nectar of pure devotional service irrespective of their birth and creed .Women,untouchables all received such favours equally from Him.This is the compassion of God and true religion .It is true that many great divinities like the Christ and others had walked this earth but Mahaprabhu 's extreme compassion stands as a testimony for he gave freely what had never been given before which is pure devotional service. He reestablished the process of achieving spiritual enlightenment in this Iron age which is by the chanting of the Holy names of the Lord without offences.I, the author supplicate at His lotus feet in the event of His appearance day admitting myself as the lowest of all and Begging for His mercy and compassion

How to view the devotees.

2009-03-08T23:00:00.000-07:00

At one time at the Holy place of Uddharan Thakur who was a great devotee of the Lord and beloved associate of Sriman Mahaprabhu ,Srila Prabhupad remarked to us that when Sriman Mahaprahu gave the command to preach the Holy Name to Nityananada Prabhu, Uddharan Thakur was one of the most beloved of him and stalwarts in view of the help in preaching activities.He was born with humble beginnings in the caste of a suvarna vanik or gold merchant but by his unparalleled devotional activities earned the favour of Nityananada Prabhu and anybody who refers to him as of that that caste will have to earn the retribution of endless suffering in hell.In his actual spiritual identity, he was the associate of Balaram in the mellows of friendship and a pure devotee.
In actual fact there is no difference between Lord Vishnu and the pure devotee .They are both reciprocating in the the mellows of loving service but one always remain the Supreme Lord as the predominating deity while the other is predominated.Many a time we come into the error of trying to evaluate the eternally liberated souls according to the context of our narrow vision and try to identify him as in the same menial caste as ours and thus become implicated by such offence.
In that respect if any person born from a very lowly background is able to perform devotional service comparable to that of great devotees then he is eligible to be entitled for that glory that accrues for any vaishnava otherwise his birth as a Brahman or whatever high standing is to no avail.
In that same respect Srila Gurudeva is non different from Sri Nityananda Prabhu to the disciple though he will never in the least make such abject claims of that order always professing himself as the lowly servant of Sriman Nityananda.However the disciple if he does not visualise his guru as Nityananda or as less then he is most fallen and should be rejected.
It is a fact that many people bear with them the sins of their past lives but to generalise as such in the case of devotees doing unalloyed devotional service to the Lord is a dangerous matter.

Causeless service and materially orientated works

2009-03-04T18:34:00.000-08:00

The disappearance day of Srila Garakishore Babaji Maharaj used to to be held at Kuliya in Navadip every year without fail.There were some people at the time like Harilal Goswami and Anant Poddar who used to feign great respect for Srila Prabhupad as a Maha Bhaghavat but heart of hearts they were only avaricious of the money and prestige that was automatically generated by the pure preaching of devotional service of Srila Prabhupad.The opportunity came for them to show their true colours when they started causing strife and discension in the yearly samadhi festival of Bajbaji Maharaj at Kuliya .Their opposition clearly showed they did not want our(Gaudiya Math) presence in that festive event at all because of the huge crowds that attended that function and the income they could generate.The main aim of Hari Katha to their opinion was to fleece the gullible public of their wealth and thus be able to accumulate wealth and give vent to their nefarious propensities.They had no inkling that our Gaudiya Math's main objective was that to proclaim the Absolute Truth at all cost without any other motives and, was to be conducted in the most non-envious way and sincerity in complete obedience to the predecessor Acaryas. This was so due to the fact that their intelligence were dulled by lusty desires.
After that these same Babajis being completely inflated by their self importance and growing wealth even tried to reverse some of Babaji Maharaja's teachings so much so that Srila Prabhupad became so unhappy and displeased with their actions that he vowed never to go to that function conducted by these offensive Babajis saying that these people think that the transcendental samadhi of Srila Babaji Maharaj is like an ordinary materialistic spot and this is a great offence against Sri Guru.
Surprisingly after Prabhupad said that ,Ganga Devi to give prominence to the words of the pure devotees soon changed course and later that samadhi spot became covered over by the river Ganga at Kulia.
Srila Prabhupad later brought the samadhi of Babaji Maharaj to the Radhakund (Chaitanya Math)at Mayapur which was reestablished alongside with a simple temple. The other side of the story was that those Babajis who accumulated great wealth all lost their ill gotten gains and became beggars like Anant Poddar who became submerged in great material distress.

How do we envision the Supreme Lord?

2009-03-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

One day Srila Prabhupada took us to the Jagganath Temple at Puri and stood behind the pillar which contained the stone deity of Garuda which was some distance in front of the wooden, divine forms of Jagganath,Baladeva and Subhadra .Whilst standing behind that Deity of Garuda ,he instructed us the method of Being able to envision Lord Jagganath ,firstly, that we should never ever cross over this deity of Garuda.
He informed us also not to attempt to simply gaze at the deity of Jagganath but in fact should try to be seen by Lord Jagganath.The living entity when he gives up the ignorance that he is the enjoyer of his actions or stops exploiting the material energy, at that time by the cultivation of pure devotional service, he is able to see the Supreme Lord. The minute when one attempts to make the Supreme Lord his order-supplier by his vision, at that time instead of seeing the Supreme Lord he simply sees a wooden form which may be like another interesting historical artifact for pleasing our senses. Only when we can actually understand in our heart that He is perceiving us for His enjoyment and we are part of the ingredients to be able to please His transcendental senses having curtailed all our illegitimate desires to enjoy Him,then will He manifest before us.
Ordinary people think that they are able to to exploit Lord Jagganath with their vision or try to interpret or estimate His transcendental deity according to their distorted vision after which they consequently endeavour to give vent to insatiable desires.However,knowingly or unknowingly,this type of intelligence will never bear any fruit.The proof is that even after having visualized the transcendental deity all such people become completely bewildered by the material energy.
After visualising the main deities ,we all circumbulated the temple with tumultuous congregational chanting of the Holy Name under the guidance and authority of Srila Prabhupada which is the real way of performing the circumbulation of any holy place,even before that the existent lotus footprints pedestal of Sriman Mahaprabhu in the temple were honoured and given respect to in the proper way.

why the necessity of going to others for knowledge when we can search it ourselves?.

2009-02-26T20:05:00.000-08:00

Usually, the scriptures and saints stress the importance of guidance from authority but ordinary people like to hear it differently and the above question is the favourite caption they rebut against such good advice.To illustrate ,Srila Prahupad quotes this story ,a man wanted to execute fierce austerities on a mountain.He climbed the mountain and managed to locate a small cave for his austerities.After that he selected a big rock by which he was able to block the mouth of the cave .He did this for fear of wild animals that may disturb his spiritual practices.However,he did consider the the fact that after some time of austerities he may become so weak ,so much so that he will not be able to move the heavy stone to get out from the cave.
Our contemplation of acquiring enlightening knowledge by ourselves is a similar situation where by such endeavours generally result bringing pain ,toil,frustration or even death to the foolish individual.Notwithstanding,the knowledge which one receives from the spiritual master is not mundane or ordinary knowledge it is transcendental knowledge.That type of knowledge is above all speculation and even that of the great works of geniuses that we sometimes hear, for it is above the purview of this material world.This is the Knowledge relating to the Supreme Lord of the Universe ,SriKrishna who is the Transcendental Autocrat,the Predominating Moiety,completely independent and replete with all the six opulence's by which He is eulogised as 'Bhagavan' in the sacred Scriptures.He is above the jurisdiction of the wayward and impermanent senses including the mind as the mind can never reach Him nor contemplate Him without an iota of His Divine mercy .Still, those saints who are dear to Him being engaged in unalloyed devotional service constantly have access to Him.There is no way for divine knowledge except by the way of the mahajanas or realized saints who are perfected in devotional service to the Supreme Lord.

The relation of Gauranga and Gadhadhar- is it similiar to that of RadhaKrishna?

2009-02-26T00:12:00.002-08:00

Lord GauraSundar is the embodiment of bothRadha and Krishna together.He is in fact SriKrishna Himself who has taken the mood and complexion of SriRadhika.So much so, that the golden complexion of Srimati assumes itself strikingly in His demeanour.In fact, both internally and externally the personality of Srimati Radhika is dominent in His personality. In contrast, Gadhadhar Pandit exhibits solely the loving moods of Srimati Radhika.This evidence is in the Gauraganodhesa Dipika(sankhya 157 ) by Kavikaranapur;
athava bhagavan gaura svachhaya gatrirupatam---By his independent and omnipotent will ,Sri GauraSundar has manifested in three different forms ,first as Krishna Himself, next in the form of SriRadhika and and lastly also in the form of Lalita.Srimati Radhika has manifested again as Gadhadhar Pandit to exhibit her various moods and loving reciprocation.However,in this context, there is no question of conjugal love etween SriGauranga and GadhadharPandit.They are close associates as Lord Gauranga also becomes also overwhelmed with the mood of Radhika and similiarly,He is always in the apparent search for Krishna.Gadhadhar likewise is the most helpful associate in fulfilling that search for the beloved as those types of loving moods of separation of Gauranga indicate.Still,sometimes we may tend to view the worship of Gaura-Gadhadhar as that of the Supreme Lord with His internal energy. The best way to look at it is simply Lord Sriman Mahaprabhu is Lord Krishna himself with the internal mood and complexion of Srimati Radhika while Sri Gadhadhar Pandit only appeared to illustrate the loving moods of Radhika but not in complexion or form.Unfortunately, due to overlapping of mellows(rasabhasa) in this issue, many non bonafida sampradayas(disciplic lines) have come into existence like the GauraNagaris and others.

why the necessity of worshipping SriKrishna when Lord Gauranga is Krishna Himself?

2009-02-24T20:02:00.001-08:00

There exists many a time, a fallacious reasoning that goes to justify that the worship of Lord Gauranga as all in all and does not entail the worship of Krishna since they are identical truths.It is a fact that those without the proper service attitude to the Supreme Lord will sometimes differentiate Sriman Mahaprabhu and the Supreme Lord SriKrishna. In his own composition, 'Manah Siksha' ,Srila Raghunath Das Goswami has written a verse beginning with - Sachisunumnandiswarapatisutve--which means, O mind !,Please remember always Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu in the form of SriKrishna and the spiritual master as the dear most servant of Lord Mukunda .In this context, Srila Das Goswami has urged all to remember the son of Sachi as Lord SriKrishna,but at no point does he not minimize the importance of worshipping Lord Krishna. If he had that notion then there would be no possibility that he would have insisted further on viewing the spiritual master as the dear most servant of Lord Mukunda.The Spiritual master shows the way of performance of pure devotional service by his exemplary conduct and he is always entrenched in the devotional service of Lord Krishna.

The devotee who is conducting devotional service in practice(sadhana-bhakti) has to worship Gauranga initially leading to worship of Lord Krishna but the perfected soul simply worships Lord Gauranga which in that elevated state is equivalent to Krishna .However,the neophyte who has material contamination and impurities cannot expect to approach Krishna directly for such a foolish attempt will make him suffer the same dire fate as Agha,Baka,Putana and will surely meet his death prematurely.

The magnanimous incarnation ,Lord Gauranga gave the highest devotion in loving mellows to Ramananda Raya who was a Governor and a materialistic man in the eyes of the public,also to Sarvabhauma who was previously a hardcore impersonalist ,what to speak! he even removed all material contamination and awarded the highest devotion and divine service to the most hardened criminals like Jagai and Madhai.Srila Krishna das Kaviraj has elucidated the method of devotion to Krishna as firstly worshipping the spiritual master ,followed by Lord Gauranga and finally SriGandhirvakka Giridhari(Radha-Krishna).He never in the least tolerated those who try to worship the spiritual master as the form of Gauranga.

Is the vaishnava religon part of the Hindu religion?

2009-02-23T04:31:00.000-08:00

Many people are of the notion that the Vaishnava religion is part of what generally we fathom as the Hindu religion.However,Srila Prabhupada in one of his lectures have clarified this point, writing that any person born from any caste or creed including that of a Hindu birth have all an equal chance to be a Vaishnava.Anybody, irrespective whether he is born from Asia,America,Europe, or Africa or in any place in the world, has a qualification to be promoted to the position of a Vaishnava only if his consciousness become fully awakened to his constitutional position as a servant of God .On the other hand, those who try to classify a Vaishnava as a Hindu ,Mussalman,Christian or belonging to some caste high or low whatever the case maybe , have failed to give justice to the real meaning of the word 'Vaishnava' and is in fact completely ignorant of the Vaishnava religion.Those who have forgotten their original identity with the Lord or oblivious of it but insist in dabbling in all the professed traditions and customs of the 'Hindu' religion of yore and being most alarmed at the slight adulteration of their long accustomed practices as foreign influence is at most utter vanity.It is interesting to note at this juncture, Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami in his Chaitanya Charitamrita (Antya- lila) has used the word 'pasandi hindu' which is actually quite derogatory in the aspect of actual spiritual advancement of such people.We must not forget how the Hindu Brahmins during the time of Mahaprabhu were the first to oppose the congregational chanting of the Holy Name and they were the ones who instigated the Muslim Governor to take action against Him with their notion that Nimai Pandit was destroying the true Hindu religion.This type of opposition has been seen time and again during the preaching of the true religion.The eternal religion which teaches us to link with the Supreme Soul in the highest mood of loving surrender is the real gem of the repository of the wealth of Indian Knowledge or 'Sanatana Dharma.'

wherever the devotee stays that is transcendental

2009-02-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

At one time ,Srila Bhativinod Thakur appeared to be very sickly whilst in Calcutta ,Srila Gaurakishore Das told a Goswami who had come to see him to carry Srila Thakur on His head and bring from the kingdom of Maya (illusory energy)to the spiritual land of Navadvipa.This was only to test and cheat like minded, externally orientated devotees.The Lord is always residing in the heart of the devotee irrespective of wherever he is.In fact, wherever the pure devotee is, that place becomes Vrndavan for he is always engaged in serving the Supreme Lord unalloyed manner.This Gosai went to see Srila Thakur in Calcutta and conveyed to him the message of Babaji Maharaj . Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur ,smilingly replied that he had a prayer and that he needed blessings from Babaji Maharaj to perform his devotional service which would be all in all.However,Srila Prahupad who was there at that time took this bewildered Gosai to one side and explained to him gravely, that the pure devotee actually fulfills the mental inclinations of all those who come to see him with material motives.He is able to understand the mood of all those who approach him and he rewards them accordingly while being engaged in his devotions in a flinching manner.There were many insincere people who heard enough hints from devotees which was enough to drown themselves further in the whirlpool of sense gratification.In short,it is disastrous to have a hypocritical and enjoying mentality when approaching a pure devotee for they may, unwittingly, not obtain the actual benefit of the association of the holy saints.We are reminded here that those devotees who are surrendered to the pure devotee and are performing devotional service in a favorable manner have all truths revealed to them in a short time.In conclusion,I the author ask all those saintly readers to give me their blessings so that I too can be free from all sorts of hypocrisy in my relation with the pure saints.

the meaning of compassion to all people according to our acaryas

2009-02-16T20:09:00.000-08:00

Often times especially in this age of Kali,there are many who reason that by getting enough donations from the Public and then using these funds to mitigate the necessities of the impoverished lot amongst society while at the same time helping themselves to further their own spiritual practices is the best way of service both ethically and morally.In one point of view we do not say this is wrong but let us look on this issue practically.How much and how long can we carry out this type of service effectually.Let us say a rich person is providing food for ten thousand people in a month.Do you think that will completely satisfy all the ten thousand people, well what about their clothing which they are in need?All right assuming that even if that is taken care off ,what about their medical necessities for the month?Notwithstanding,if by a miracle that problem too is solved, can you ensure that all these people on the charity dole are mentally happy and peaceful?Such type of charity simply to artificially and temporally mitigate a person's depressed situation will never bring real happiness to an individual.The real answer as our spiritual leaders advice, is to bring an individual to his original constitutional position as a servant of the Lord and by doing so not only ALL his necessities and wants will be fulfilled but he will become a peaceful,happy person who will be able to contribute to society in the best way possible.This is the real solution and actual compassion exhibited for the suffering masses and the best relief work for society.Factually,the living entity is the servant of the Supreme Lord but he has forgotten this and has become the slave of the external energy from time immemorial for so long time and for many births having gone through the same activities of eating ,sleeping ,mating and defending which are not new for the eternal soul.

The time has come for us to wake the spiritual consciousness of all sleeping souls including ours .Both the hearers and speakers of the divine pastimes of the Lord are benefited while the one who simply receives aid loses out.In short ,the pure devotees does not take much interest in relief works and charities just for some temporary benefits awarded to an individual and earning some false prestige amongst a deluded world is certainly not to their liking.They help the living entities in three ways,firstly, they save the individual from looting the property of the Lord for one's selfish interest,secondly, they speak about the divine pastimes of the Lord to attract the conditioned souls to the path of blessedness,and lastly they give away their strength of their Bhajan by taking some material necessities from the conditioned souls whilst awarding them additional pious activities to help them in devotion.However,the pure devotee preaches by his exemplary conduct to attract the fallen souls.

Srila BhaktiSIdhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad's unparalleled contribution for the preaching of the Holy Name.

2009-02-15T21:05:00.001-08:00

Sila Prabhupad after taking over the editorship of the Sajjana Tosani magazine always stressed in his writings, the importance of not being complacent in the hearing and chanting of the Holy name for even a moment.He used to remark that the divine incarnation, Sriman Mahaprabhu for the benefit of the masses had proclaimed, Kirtaniyah sad Harih meaning to constantly chant the Holy Name without respite.In this context ,Sila Prabhupad would say a normal material engagement would keep the worker yearning for rest from the drudgery of work but conversely chanting of the Holy Name being transcendental will give more and more joy as the chanter progresses without break.
Many a time we hear this quip that one should not take the Lord's name in vain, even many Christians repeat that point.During the time of Mahaprabhu there were people saying that the rainy months when the Lord is supposed to take rest ,one should not chant loud for fear of offence to the Lord. A class of Vaishnavas would cover their mouths for fear that their chanting will be overheard by others.This was a common belief amongst the smarta Brahmans against chanting loudly..One Vallabha Bhatta even tried to instruct Sriman Mahapabhu by saying that since all jivas are feminine(prakirti) while the Supreme Lord being the only masculine entity(purusha),it is may not be right for a saintly wife to take her husband's name with indifference.Sriman Mahaprabhu with his unalloyed associates have smashed all this misconceptions.The duty of a wife is to follow the instructions of her husband and Lord Krishna has instructed all the Jivas in the chanting and remembering His name constantly without break.
This evidence is also given in the Holy Bhagavatam,
etavan eva loke smin pumsam paro dharmah parah smrtah,
bhakti yogo bhavati tannamgrahanadibhih
that the highest religious duty of a person is in devotional service to the Supreme Lord which begins with hearing and chanting of the Holy Name.One of the ending verses of the Vedanta Sutra which is anavrthi sabdat,anavrthi sabdat also proclaims that only by the holy sound vibration can one be liberated from material entanglement.In this way ,Srila Prabhupad by logic and spiritual evidence have proved that the foremost way to cultivate devotion to the Lord is by the chanting and hearing of the holy sound vibration.He has also informed us that the divine realm can only be approached by an attitude of service which begins with the use of our senses being engaged in the service of God primarily in the use of our tongue in the chanting of the Holy Name and ears in hearing the holy vibration.

the meaning of pilgrimmage to the Holy Dham

2009-02-14T21:13:00.000-08:00

Once, Srila Prabhupad brought a distinguished guest ,Sri Prabodhanda Upaydyaya and a few of us, his disciples to meet Srila Gaurakishore Das Babaji Maharaj.Babaji Maharaj nodded his head after introduction and remarked that, 'now you should stay here and do HariBhajan in this Holy Dham'.However ,the guest replied ,'not exactly for I have bought the return train ticket back to Calcutta'.At which Babaji Maharaj retorted back ,'then you shouldn't have come ,for this Holy land is only for those who want to come and seriously do Hari Bhajan'.(service to the Lord).
In actual fact, Srila Babaji Maharaj was instructing all of us that just to meet a Saint out of whimsical curiosity or just to see new and newer places was not actually the real meaning of a pilgrimage for by doing so neither the actual benefit of the association of holy saints nor that of the wandering in the holy spots are obtained.The main reason for pilgrimage is the association of the holy saints.This actual association can never take place unless one is surrendered to the pure devotees.This means surrender of all one's own whimsical ideas , a positive service attitude and proper inquiry.The mood of buying a ticket to the Holy Dham but with a resigned or lackadaisical attitude of returning back to continue to enjoy our senses as usual goes to show that there was no surrendered mood to the pure Devotees. Consequently, their nectarine words and teachings will only fall on deaf ears and just be in vain.We have heard this story repeated often times by Srila Prabhupad to us, that insincere people who take Diksha(initiation) but want to go back to their old ways(return ticket) will never be able to take to Hari Bhajan. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur in His 'Saranagati' has given similar instructions in this context.In conclusion, there is no difference between their teachings and they all point out to exclusively, causeless and unalloyed service to Sri Krishna.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati advices on when the devotee suffers lack of saintly association

2009-02-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

Srila Prabhupad writes, informing us of a place in which there is a dearth of topics of Lord Hari even though it is most comfortable and beset with all amenities or otherwise filled with all loving kinsmen will not be the suitable place of residence.It is by the mercy of Mahaprabhu that some type of service to the Lord and hearing of the topics of the Divine is going on in the Gaudiya Maths.'
He writes to a disciple,'I have heard that you are placed in a situation that you are not able to have proper association with devotees,it may not be good luck, still I know that you have a service attitude to the Supreme Lord.So,carry on but always read the spiritual journals like 'Gaudiya' and the recommended devotional texts and by doing this you will be able to assimilate the proper hearing from these books.Even though we may not be fortunate to interact with great souls, however,Mahaprabhu has time again left precious jewels in the form of the holy devotional treatises and by giving reception to these books,our distresses can be mitigated.If we are immersed like this in these type of transcendental hearing and remembering then there is no way the material sorrows can effect us.
Wherever the Lord places us ,in whichever situation, one has to remain entrenched in devotional service but without forgetting to hear and remember the discourses of the pure devotees of Sriman Mahaprabhu.Unfortunately,not all can get a relish for such topics for the condition is one has to have a service attitude to the Supreme Lord.We have to understand that the Lord is testing us at all times and to pass the test means to see His presence in all situations.I too, am praying the day will come when I can see the hand of Mahaprabhu in everything and be able to follow Him at all times.This material world is the testing ground. In order to be successful one has to constantly remember the poignant words of the unalloyed devotees from either their discourses or the recommended holy books.There is no cause for pessimism.
The devotees try to see the Lord's presence in everything just as Prahlad who could fathom the Supreme Lord in the pillar of stone, reversely,the demons are unable to locate the Lord anywhere at all.The only way to reduce our sense gratification is to increase our service propensity to the Supreme Lord .

Those who worship Mother(Armma) have long time conflict with the Vaishnavas.

2009-02-11T20:07:00.000-08:00

In actual fact, the real Vaishnavas do no quarrel with anybody ,their real mood is not to cause the slightest disturbance to any living entity.They are non-envious in all their dealings.For this reason ,they are always engaged in the welfare work of all living entities.Other than the service to Vishnu there is no other auspicious activity in this world. so they are always informing the wandering souls of their original relation with the Supreme Lord.The worship of the Divine Mother can definitely bring some auspiciousness in this earthly sojourn no doubt ,but the chance is that the soul can become more covered and entangled away from the eternal duties of the soul. Real violence as expressed by the Vaishnavas is when some form of teaching is given which causes the bondage of the soul in worldly illusion.Therefore,in order to save the fallen souls they take a fierce stance which is in actual fact the position of a good doctor with his soothing surgical knife which cuts off the offending abscess .The votaries of Mother(saktas) never fail to recognize the divinity of Mother because all their worldly enjoyments are derived consecutively from Her worship but they fail to understand the Husband of their Divine Mother.Unfortunately,as much as they give opposition to the pure devotees of the Lord(Vaishnavas) till then they will never be able to transcend their narrow conceptions in which they are submerged.They will exist in their mood of simply exploiting the material energy.Their mood will be 'She is the fountain -head of everything but She is the custodian of my physical frame only and not of soul.'
The soul is unborn ,and does not have any mother.The actual function of the soul is neither material enjoyment or renunciation.The call for' give me wealth' ,'give this or that', has nothing in common with the indomitable soul.The soul being the associated counterpart of the Supreme Lord only wishes to satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord in loving service by which it becomes completely joyful and peaceful.This type of service is causeless and eternal.

The real contribution of Mahaprabhu

2009-02-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

One cannot compare Sriman Mahaprabhu to the other numerous leaders and saints who have introduced their own specific brand of teachings.He had never given indulgence in any form to mental speculation in His teaching.Many great sages have taught but their message has seen to be distorted by their followers to the extent that only a parody of the original has been left instead due to to the influence of this iron age. In the beginning ,Lord Krishna awarded this divine knowledge to Lord Brahma through the heart.Unfortunately,this knowledge which was transmitted from Brahma became deviated due to the influence of the age and the modes of nature that it has suffered a great deviation from the original pure message.Those who do not accept the eternity of Lord Vishnu,His devotee and service to Vishnu cannot be called servant of God in any sense and they are against the Vedic Formula.The Vedas proclaim:Om tad Vishnoh paramam padam sada pasyanti surayah.The residence of Lord Vishnu is the highest destination and it is self illuminating and eternal unlike the material world.The demigods(surayah) are always engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord.
Sriman Mahaprabhu has given us the means worshipping the Supreme Lord, SriKrishna exclusively Hiswith eternal residence, Vrndavan.He has informed us that the actual method of worshipping The Lord has been best exemplified by the cowherd damsels in the moods of the highest devotion to God ever shown.The Book which neglects all the lower aspirations of the individual in favour of unalloyed devotion is the Srimad Bhagavatam which is self evident in itself and the cream of the Vedic teachings.Therefore, those devout followers of Mahaprabhu reject any other concocted or superimposed duties in the name of religion.Mahaprabhu taught that the highest devotion can be obtained by simply obtained by chanting the Mahamantra -hara krishna mantra ,which has its basis in the Bhagavatam.In short ,He made everything very simple but the fact remains that the mantra have to be received through the disciplic succession in order to get the blessings of the predecessor acaryas .He broke through caste barriers,and country or creed.Everybody, man women,lame,neuter ,pariah were all equally entitled to chant the holy Name and serve the Supreme Lord for their spiritual advancement.This was the unique contribution of Mahaprabhu and His magnaminity for the fallen conditioned souls . He has declared that all potencies exist in the Name and one can be delivered from material life by chanting the holy name and being free from offences.All perfections can be thus attained by the sincere chanter.

the process of self realization in the age of Kali.

2009-02-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

After the reign of performances of sacrifices in the Treta age ,the Dwarpa age heralded the the system of gorgeous worship. However,this did not include the slaughter of animals .According to Srila Prabhupad ,heat,air and the sun togetherwith empirical knowledge were implemented in the worship of the demigods and the fore fathers for the satisfaction of the senses of the individual.The purified saints had already established the worship of Vishnu or service to Lord Vishnu and the way they worshipped the Supreme was according to pancharatric system ,which was the real method of worship.Unfortunately,many other non bona fide successions lapsed to the worship of the demigods.In the beginning of Kali yuga, the Buddhists and the Jains too caused a deviation in the rigid following of Vedic traditions.The influence of perverse age of Kali was another factor in the distortion of the actual pure process of worship.The building of temples to promote worship of Vishnu has generally become degraded to the petty satisfaction of the belly and the genitals of the votaries.For this reason, the acaryas have given the verdict that the process of religion in the age of Kali is by the chanting of the Holy Name
As stated by SriMadhava,In Kali yuga, the process of worship is by the chanting the Holy names of God.'Kalau tu namamatrena pujyate bhagavan Harih'.
The reasona being in this iron age ,there is difficulty in obtaining specific ingredients required for worship as mentioned in the Vedas.Next, there is also the question of the purity of such ingredients for any adulteration is tantamount to offence.The other point is the purity of the mutterer of the sacred hymns and the the clarity of the Sanskrit mantras pronounced in accordance with grammar in order that it will not produce a diverse result.In the chanting of the Name there is no question of proper place ,time and circumstances ,by the mercy of the Lord it is possible in all diverse conditions and there is no barrier in terms of the caste or creed of the individual concerned.

Demigod worship as compared to worship of Vishnu

2009-02-06T02:53:00.000-08:00

There are sections of people identified as Hindus who equate Vishnu with minor gods such as Ganesh,Surya ,Devi and Siva and worship these deities without any difference.In retrospect,SrimanMahaprabhu has completely nullified such a contention with the phrase ,'sa pasandi bhaved dhruvam 'meaning-those who compare the Supreme Lord Vishnu with other demigods and try to topple him from His unquestionable status as being equal to none have been termed as unbelievers of the faith.
Krishna Das Kaviraj has explained about the word 'pasandi'(CCAdiLila-17/203).These people do not believe in the Holy name as the only process of salvation and goal , on the other hand they balance it with pious activities like yoga,austerity and charity. Secondly they do they have faith in Lord Krishna as the Supreme Deity in respect to the other minor gods.These type of smarta puja has been termed as not proper(aviddhi) by the Lord in the Bhagavat Geeta.
ye py anya devata bhakta yajanty sraddhanyavitah
te'pi mama eva kaunteya yajanty aviddhi purvakam
meaning- that thosewho are bewildered worship the demigods without proper understanding.In actual fact, to understand the omnipotence of Lord Krishna as the Supreme is the initial hurdle for in worshipping gods as Ganesh as the Supreme God would mean they are only worshipping the shadow energies of the Personality of Godhead for He alone is the only independent Auotocrat in this Universe while all the others are dependent on Him.Therefore, such worship will not reveal ultimately one's existing spiritual identity .In other words, one has to approach a spiritual master to reveal this knowledge(sambandha).Only then will he realize the absolute position of the Supreme Lord with his constitutional position being as the eternal servant of the One Supreme Lord.

Srila Prabhupada(Saraswati Thakur) on devotion and How it arises

2009-02-04T18:36:00.000-08:00

'Anartha' refers to all that which blocks our natural wealth in relation to service to the SupremeLord.Devotion is the natural and eternal constitutional function of the soul to the Supreme Lord and this constitutes religion.All the other so called duties (dharma) are secondary and subject to change being temporary.On the other hand, when this devotion to the Lord and his devotees is forgotten it leads to the rise of fear ,illusion and lamentation which is a false covering of the soul.Until and unless one takes full shelter of the Supreme Lord,he will will be implicated in the vicious material phantasmagoria in the form of 'me' and 'mine'.The lure of knowledge and fruitive works are indeed stumbling blocks to devotion just as a man who eats well but never gets fat because he harbours worms in his body.
A Pure Devotee is one who constantly hears,chants and remembers the Lord's glories and pastimes in an unalloyed manner.If one can give aural reception to the messages of such a devotee in a submissive mood with great attention then devotion may be achieved.Lord Vishnu is the maintainer of this Universe in the mode of goodness.SriKrishna Chaitanya has advented to surcharge the devotional consciousness of(chaitanya) all the living entities to Lord Krishna.He took the renounced order too for that same reason and that's why his sanyassa name was such.Still our consciousness have not changed for most.Therefore all our attempts at other duties should be curtailed in favour of the causeless and obstructed devotion to Lord Krishna.This is our real important need (artha)

can any materially attached person take up lila smaran for purification?

2009-02-03T23:51:00.000-08:00

Srila Prabhupad comments that the transcendental pastimes which transpires between the Divine Couple are not for those who are conditioned or attached to their physical bodies.When one tries to artificially remember these pastimes in an immature state ,he is termed as a sahajiya.On the other hand,the liberated souls who are on spontaneous devotional service to the Lord have all qualification for such attempts at remembrance(lila-smaran).This is not exactly the region for artifice and imitation.In trying to ascend to such a high state precariously will bring exactly the feared opposite and base results.This has been proven time and again by the gross illicit encounters of those imitators or' sahajiyas'.Verses in the Bhagavatam like bhajate tadrsa krida,tatparo bhavet which emphasize the importance of listening to the divine pastimes and taken as the proof will only embroil these people in the gross enjoyment of their senses.The real sense of this word 'tadrsa krida' means transcendental sport of the divine Lord.The 'bhavet 'in the verse may be in the affirmative signifying one must act but only for those who have crossed the bodily platform and are on spontaneous devotion to the Lord.Otherwise,ordinary individuals will imitate their latent lusty tendencies and end up making a mockery of the divine sport in their attempt to fathom these pastimes while being in a more fallen position rather than the so predicted absolute conquest of their wild senses.In the verse of the Bhagavatam,(10/33/30) naitat samacarejjatumanasapi hy iswarah,vinasyatyacarenmodyad yatharudro addhijam visam Sukadeva Goswami warns us all not to imitate great souls just as Lord Siva who could drink the ocean of poison for that will be the cause of our downfall.

the importance of kirtan in respect to worship of the deity

2009-02-03T23:08:00.000-08:00

Usually, ordinary devotees worship the Lord with ordinary faith and with mediocre formality but such kind of worship will never even be able to reach the Supreme Lord.The ordinary devotee is generally covered by gross and subtle coverings and his heart is polluted with mundane knowledge and works.Until and unless he obtains transcendental knowledge, his worship of the Lord will not be pure.Therfore,in the initial stages, it is of utmost importance to receive initiation from a spiritual master and engage in worship side by side with chanting of the name.It is necessary for those who have wealth to engage their wealth in gorgeous worship of the Lord but if they were to prefer to simply remember the Holy name following the moods of the renounced devotees that would be tantamount to offence.Besides those rich people who pay priests to conduct worship in their homes would sadly reflect their own spiritual impoverishment and laziness.Srila Jiva Goswami has stated that any limb of devotional service like worship has to be coupled with chanting of the name in order to bear any fruit.In this respect,the worship that was conducted by the Goswamis as Rupa and Sanatana was on the transcendental plane -that is Lord Krishna was directlt accepting and reciprocating with His pure devotees.In Chaitanya -lila there is description of the worship of a Brahman devotee called Gunanarva Misra but his worship was on the neophyte level and can never be compared with the worship of Raghunath Goswami for his Girirraj deity with the gunjamala which was completely transcendental and being one of the internal associates of SriSriRadhaKrishna

Lord Krishna and His other Incarnations

2009-01-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

In actual fact, there is no difference in essence between Lord Krishna and the different incarnations for they are all situated in the transcendental platform being above the modes of nature in contrast to the living entity who is conditioned and bound by these modes.All those forms are eternal and full of bliss without any trace of the ordinary material flaws while being complete in itself.Just as a beautiful translucent gem will appear in different hues of colour according to the position it is placed ,similarly the Lord may reciprocate in myriad ways with his loving devotees according to their individual moods.It is at this point that the Lord Krishna can exhibit all five loving moods namely,unattached, servitude,friendship,parental ending in the quintessence of all,which is the conjugal loving mood while the other Vishnu forms are limited to only half of these ,that is two and the half in totality .The half here connotes little of friendship.It is in this perspective we say that Lord Krishna is most complete and the source of all the other incarnations by virtue of having more qualities.On the other hand all the other incarnations are equal to the original as explained in the Brahma Samhita-diparcirevahidasantaram abhyupetya---dipayatevivrta hetu samana dharma,yastadrgeva hi cha vishnutaya vibhati ,govindam adi purusham tam aham bhajami
meaning : I worship Lord Govinda the source of all incarnations , who is the the original being in the way one candle is used to light other candles whichall give an equal amount of light in power similarly Lord Govinda is the origin of all other incarnations.
Thus there is in this regard no difference between Lord Rama and Lord Krishna in esscence even though we regard Lord Krishna as the origin of all others.Similarly in this light, the devotees do not see any difference between the Mahabharatha ,Geeta and the Bhaghavat even though the Mahabharatha do contains sections which emphasizes the superiority of knowledge and works with the apparent adulteration of pure devotion.The devotees are not bewildered by all these as the demoniac class of people in their random interpretations .

has not Sanatan Goswami forbadden the wearing of the ocre cloth

2009-01-18T00:48:00.000-08:00

It is true the scriptures have even forbidden the taking of the renounced order in the age of Kali ,However this prohibition is restricted to those who have the conception of Sanyassa or renounced order as the renouncing of all material works.The fact of the matter is, all the prominent Vaishnava Acaryas took to the renounced order in the light of unalloyed service to the Supreme Lord. What to speak,Even Mahaprabhu took to this order to exemplify dedicated service to the Lord to the common people.A geniune devotee of the Lord is not within the jurisdiction of any caste and order in life ,being transcendental to all these .Therefore ,it is not necessary nor is he obligated to wear the stigma of the Varnashrama system as the ochre robes.The reason why we are wearing the robes is that we are neither Guru nor Vaishnava in any way but hoping to be the servant of the Vaishnavas while humbly identifying ourselves within the Varnashrama system.We are contended to be the real servant of the genuine servant of the Vaishnavas.

Srila Sridhara Swami was not a mayavadi

2009-01-14T20:33:00.000-08:00

In actual fact Sridhara Maharaj was never an impersonalist but more to Purified Advaita(suddhaadvaita).In his line of thought the living entity is a plenary portion of God,Maya is considered an energy of the Lord while The material world is the sport of the Lord so in in one sense these three are interrelated with the Supreme Lord(vastu).In the Second verse of the Bagavatam, vedyamvastavm atra vastu sivadam, lSrila Sridhar Swami has commented by saying that all the three namely the living entity is a portion of the whole(Vastu),the external energy maya its energy, and the material world the play of the Vastu which clearly proves he was never an impersonalist for the mayavadis do not believe in the existence of the three,jiva ,maya and the external world ,for them only the vastu(brahman) is real.
Next in his Bhavartha commentary,Srila Sridhara Swami has never mentioned any other Acarya with the exception of Srila Vishnuswami,founder of Purified Impersonalism(suddha advaita),his commentaries have a almost absolute leaning to the theories propagated by the latter.He ,Sridhara Swami was a votary of Lord Nrsingha as he himself wrote in his commentary-Nrsingham aham bhaje.
Further the impersonalists would perform worship of all including Siva but ultimately their goal was to desire to merge in the impersonal Brahman but we can understand that Sridhara Swami accepted Lord Krishna as the Supreme and Lord Siva ,His devotee according to that Rudra disciplic sucession.(Vishnuswami)
He has accepted the non difference between the holy name and the Supreme which Rupa Goswami has collected and written in his book 'Padyavali' ,in contrast , the impersonalists do not believe in the existence of the Lord's name ,form ,qualities as eternal and as non different to the Supreme himself.
Finally Sriman Mahaprabhu has hailed Srila Sridhara Swami as the champion of devotion and the Acarya of the Holy Bhagavat while He has condemned the ordinary impersonalists as destroyers of devotion which is the conclusive proof.

continued -importance of sanyassa

2009-01-13T02:42:00.001-08:00

Srila Prabhodhanda has glorified the sanyassa ashram with his verse in the Chaitanya Chandramrita.In this verse he has advised the ordinary monks and householders to take sanyassa solely for the transcendental service of Mahaprabhu and not in the hope of becoming Mahaprabhu.Srila Gadadhar Pandit had taken sanyassa and demonstrated the real meaning of the renounced order by the exclusive service of the Lord ,whilst staying in the township of Puri.He had a sanyassa disciple who was initiated under the name of Madhavacharya.He ,Madhavacharya later awarded the sanyassa order to a god brother of his guru named Vallabha Bhatta who received it before his final dissapearance from this world.Srila Sridhara Swami who was extolled by Mahaprabhu as the Bhagavat Acarya, has glorified the sanyassa order as most praiseworthy.The 108 designations accruing to the sanyassa order coupled with the 100 names of the Acaryas can be obtained from the Vishnuswami line of succession .Similarly the Ramanuja sect has written about the method of sanyyassa

continued-the importance of the renounced order

2009-01-13T01:21:00.001-08:00

The associates of Sriman Mahaprabhu consisted of two types ,thosewho were remaining in the householder order of life and the other were renunciates still all these associates were universal teachers and therefore the householder devotees could stay in either the forest or the home being completely detached.Householder devotees too can in special cases act as spiritual guides foruplifting the the most fallen among society.The asocciates of these types were constantly engaging their mind,body and senses in the service of the Lord and have taught real renouncement so similiarly the Vaishnava sanyassi has to be engaged in this manner.In this respect they are following the path as enunciated by the Avanti Brahmin in the renouncement of material life(11 canto Bhagavatam).Srila Rupa Goswami in the first verse of Upedesamrita has given us an inkling as to what renouncement entails.Furthurmore in Bhaktirasamrita Sindhu the verse begining with iha yasya harer dasye karmano manaso gira the nature of the renounced order is exemplified;Srila Prabhodhanda Saraswati,a stalwart devotee and intimate associate was the guru of Srila Goplala Bhatta Goswami, the compiler of Vaishnava regulations in worship.Srila Prabhodhanda in his verse dante nidhaya trnakam of Chaintinya Chandramrta

the necessity of the sanyassa ashram

2009-01-12T01:12:00.000-08:00

Many people query about the evidence regarding the embracing of the highest order or renounced order in the age of Kali.In the transcendental literature of the Srimad Bhaghavatam (11 canto)the story of the Avanti Brahmin who became renounced from material life is the best example of the process of taking the renounced order of our Gaudiya Vaishnavas.Our R upanuga acarya Gopal Bhatta goswami has compiled treatises like the Hari Bhakti Vilas ,Samskara Dipika and others and have explained the method and importance of the sanyassa order.SriDyancandra has in fact termed the sansyassa order as the most important samskara(purifying ritual)in His Samskar Candrika with many important references from the sciptures to elucidate his point.The other ancient books which testify to this point areBhaghava Chandrika ,Pramesumala,Satadusan with many different viewpoints and qoutations from other scriptures. Numerous Texts inclarding this uding the Javalopanishade,Srimad Bhagavatam as mentioned,Bhavarthadepika by Sridhara Swami,Skanda Purana,Padma Purana,Satwata Samhita,ManuSamhita,Ekadashi Tattva thevarious 21 dharma sciptures etc has given enough evidence regarding this matter.In Bhag(11/29/19)there is mention that everybody has to rise to the platform of a proper Vaishnava renunciate for actual spiritual advancement.
yavat sarvesu bhuteshu madbhavo nopajayate tavad evam upasita monovakkayavrittibhih ! Lord Krishna tells Uddhava that until one can see my presence in all living entities till then one has to worship me with his mind ,speech and body.
Tri means the three and danda means to restrain, therefore tridanda sanyassa means to restrain the three which is of the mind ,body and words in the service of the Supreme Lord Krishna.Again the Lord says, ayam hi sarva bhutanam samdrichino mato mama,madbhava sarva bhuteshu manovakkayavrittibhih meaning -The highest form of worship which pleases Me is to be able to see My presence in all living beings by engaging one's mind ,words and body.The second pont to note is all those on the highest path of ragamarga have to come to this pont of renunciation but here there is no compulsion of wearing the ochre robes,as in the Bhag(11/18/28) salinganam asramatyaktvacared viddhi agochara, for those on the highest platform are not bound by the ordinary rules of Varnaasrama Dharma

the explanation of the last verse of the Geeta

2009-01-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

The famous verse uttered by the Supreme Lord SriKrishna at the end of his instructions to His beloved devotee and friend Arjuna was :sarva dharman parityagya
mam ekam saranam vraja,aham tvam sarva papebyah moksyasyami ma sucah.

Here the word darrma normally implies religion and righteous behavior but taken in the context of this instruction it means all types of obligatory duties which has to be necessarily performed by the person in the social arena for his well being and including material comforts.The point to note is this advice was given to Arjuna in a spiritual perspective for satisfaction and hapiness of the soul was deemed by the Lord as the highest goal of life.To explain further, Srila Saraswati Thakur has connoted the word dharma to mean upadhi or false designation(limited adjuncts).For example a man thinks he belongs to a certain race and he feels proud of it or a certain caste like of the highest order,or he may think of himself as an ascetic or feel himself very masculine or he may think himself as very learned or rich and vice versa .Unfortunately, all this are designations that the soul accrues in a certain life and relatively false from the standpoint of eternity.Therefore Lord Krishna tells him to give up these false designations artificially acquired by the mind and false ego and surrender to to Him alone who is the Supreme Lord ,assuring him that He will protect him from all sinful reactions.It is crucial here to understand and accept the Supreme Lord Krishna as the Supreme Divinity before the actual process of trying to surrender and that He cannot be compared to the other minor demigods that act under His jurisdiction.In this juncture it will be appropriate to mention that the constitutional position of the soul is as a servant of a God so surrender basically means to offer all the result's of our present works to God and to follow His laws in all aspects.Krishna assures Arjuna -.ma sucah -don't worry. Why is He saying that? -well because to give up all these designations is not pleasant and is a source of consternation for the soul.Therefore He mildly admonishes him to give up all that which is false with a reassurance that He will take care of him.This instruction is for all those souls wandering in this dismal abyss of the material world.