Govinda & Anasuya - 07.09.21 @ Gainesville House Program

The Jeweled Bhakti Garland Part 4 / Talking with Krishna / SB 3.25.35

Krishna is in His deity form / Srila Prabhupada’s exchanges with Krishna / Gauridas Pandit’s worship of Mahaprabhu’s deity form / Other ways to interact with the deities

#33 Talking with Krishna / The Jeweled Bhakti Garland — Part 4

This is very important to understand that when a man is about to die, in such a short time as seven days, it’s our conditioned human nature to become fearful. How is it and why is it that Parikshit Maharaj had no fear? Because he had faith. Faith is the gift of the Supreme Lord that can destroy all fear and all suffering of this world. What was Maharaj Parikshit’s faith? He had faith that the words of the great vaishnavas would give him eternal life. He had faith that simply from hearing as a humble servant from Sukhadeva Goswami that he would be given eternal life at Krishna’s lotus feet. That was his faith.

Faith Can Destroy All Fear and Suffering

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvata. It is only by pure Bhakti that Krishna can be understood as he is. It is only love that binds the Lord. No mystic power, no cultivation of knowledge, no exhibition of ecstatic symptoms none of these things are in any way attractive to the Lord. Only humility, devotion and love. gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. Caitanay Mahaprabhu has taught that us we should only have one aspiration in this world to be the servant of the servant of the servant of Sri Krishna that’s all. And that aspiration has to be our goal beyond everything else in this world and drita vrata that firm determine vow to follow the order of guru, to humbly become the servant of the servants of the Vaishnavas and to be willing to sacrifice anything and everything for that position of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant, that is the price of Love of God and Krishna will not accept anything less than that. That is the fact.

Krishna Reveals Himself as You Approach Him

Radha's Motto / Radhastami Special Edition / SB 10.30.28

Everything for Krishna, nothing for myself / Radharani meeting the queens of Dwaraka / Rukmini Devi understanding Radharani’s special place / Easy ways to worship Srimati Radharani

#34 Radha's Motto — Radhastami Special Edition

Bhakti is Inherent / SB 3.25.37

Three goals of life surpassed by a devotee / How bhakti is inherent and inherited / It all comes from the mercy of devotees

#35 Bhakti is Inherent

Maharaj Pariskhit could have done anything his last seven days, but he chose to think of Krishna, to chant and hear His glories. So, let us make our life a beautiful, a wonderful, a meaningful life. A life that is no longer subject to fear or anxiety, a life that is constantly devoted to remembrance of the all beautiful, all merciful Supreme Personality of Godhead, by remembering Krishna we become purified from within and without and for the pure soul, there is only the mercy of God that he sees in every step of his life and therefore he is always peaceful, he is always in a state of love, of compassion. He is always tasting the ultimate beauty of life and that gift is available for you today if you accept it. How to accept it? It is very simple, by surrendering to Krishna, by chanting His name, by following the words of the great souls, that is all Maharaj Pariskhit did, he simply heard from Sukadeva Goswami and followed his words and chanted the name of God, that same benediction is yours.

A Devote Never Subjeccted to Ordinary Material Karma

People who are completely against this movement, but because their child has become a devotee, they are naturally dear to them, even though they may be offensive and everything else, and in this life for the next they all become devotees. They ultimately, they all liberated and Go Back To Godhead, undoubtedly to the extreme of Hiranyakashipu. In the same way the Nagapatnis, Prahlad Maharaj was always praying to his father, always preaching to his father. And because of those prayers and because of his natural affection for Hiranyakashipu, Hiranyakashipu was liberated by the Lord himself. So, if you love your parents, if you love your aunties and uncles and if you love your children and if you love your all other people of that are near and dear to you who are telling you “oh! Please come home,” if you really want to help them, you become dear to Krsna you become a pure Vaishnava like the Nagapatnis or a like Sarvabhauma and to the degree you become dear to the Lord, everything dear to you become dear to the Lord. And Krsna will give special affection, special attention and guaranteed he will liberate them. And to the degree you surrender your life to Krsna, to that degree he will take special concern of everything in relationship in your life.

The Supreme Perfection of Life

Prabhupada writes “of Lord Chaitanya’s associates.” Prabhupada writes it that “Swarup Damodar Goswami never came to Vrindavan. He is Lalita sakhi. And Gadhadar Pandit who is Radharani never came to Vrindavan. He wanted to come with Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanya, but Lord Chaitanya said no you have given your vow of kshetra-sanyas to serve Gopinath in Puri, you cannot come with me. So many of the top most, Ramananda Rai never came to Vrindavan. But their hearts were in Vrindavan. Wherever they went they manifested Vrindavan.” So Prabhupada was explaining and not only did he speak it but he lived it, that really being in Vrindavan is serving the holy dham which means serving the will of Radha and Krishna.

VRINDAVAN Is The State of Consciousness

Arjun Keshav- Evening Kirtan 08.10.22 Balaram Purnima @NRR

8/21/22 - RGM - Keshava

Radhanath Swami is a Vaishnava sanyassi (a monk in a Krishna-bhakti lineage) and teacher of the devotional path of Bhakti-yoga. He is author of The Journey Home, a memoir of his search for spiritual truth. His teachings draw from the sacred texts of India such as The Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Ramayana, and aim to reveal the practical application of the sacred traditions, while focusing on the shared essence which unites apparently disparate religious or spiritual paths.
Born Richard Slavin, on December 7, 1950, in his teens he came to confront a deep sense of alienation from suburban Chicago life and the civil injustices of mid-century America. At the age of nineteen, while on a summer trip to Europe, his internal struggles culminated in a commitment to search for God wherever it might lead him. Meditating on the Isle of Crete, he felt a supernatural calling and the next morning set off alone to find spiritual India. The Journey Home documents his odyssey as a penniless hitch-hiker though Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally India. There he lived as a wandering ascetic, first amongst the forest dwelling Himalayan yogis and later amongst a wide variety of gurus and spiritual practitioners throughout India and Nepal. Ultimately, he was led to the holy town of Vrindavan, where he found his path amongst the Bhakti-yogis.
In Vrindavan he found the teacher he was searching for in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and representative of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, (the Krishna-bhakti tradition stemming from the 16th century mystic avatar Sri Chaitanya). In choosing Bhaktivedanta Swami, as his guru, Radhanath Swami felt compelled to shear his matted locks and reenter Western society with a mission to share the sacred wisdom he had received. This return exemplifies the form of devotional yoga which is at the heart of Radhanath Swami’s teachings, a spiritual practice expressed as tangible action meant to bring about personal fulfillment and benefit the world.
At the the age of 31 he took the monastic vows of a Vaishnava sanyassin and became known as Radhanath Swami.
Today Radhanath Swami travels regularly throughout India, Europe and North America, sharing the teachings of Bhakti-yoga. He resides much of the year at the Radha Gopinath Ashram in Chowpatty, Mumbai. For the past twenty-five years he has guided the community’s development and has directed a number of acclaimed social action projects including Midday Meals, which daily serves more than 260,000 plates of sanctified vegetarian food to the children of the slums of Mumbai. He has also worked to establish missionary hospitals and eye camps, eco-friendly farms, schools and ashrams, an orphanage, and a number of emergency relief programs throughout India.
