Thakura 09.29.19 Sunday Night @NRR

This is Sanskrit. It means “the supreme dharma or religion is to love God. That love must be to the degree it is unmotivated by any selfish egoism and uninterrupted by any circumstances they may come upon us. It actually satisfies the heart.” In my travels studying different faiths and so many other things, I found that in every spiritual tradition there are those who strongly believe and profess that ‘my way is the only way and anything that's possibly outside of my interpretation of scripture and tradition is dangerous to the world and must be as far as possible eliminated.’

A Message for Harmony

Siksastakam

This is a sweet kirtan with B.B. Govinda, Akinchana and myself this year during the Ratha Yatra in Toronto 2016

Kirtan Travels: Ratha Yatra Toronto, Canada - 2016

Toronto Ratha Yatra 2016 - B.B. Govinda, Akinchana & Amala Kirtan das

Just recently one of our god brothers, he had a major heart attack and he said that that heart attack was the most excruciating and painful experience of his whole life. He said his chest was in such intense, unbearable pain. His whole body, every cell and atom and molecule, appeared to be just utterly immobilized and it lasted for hours and hours and hours and he had his family members and his god brothers and so many people around him trying to help him, comforting him, massaging him. They brought him to a modern hospital, where they gave him all sorts of the latest technology but he was thinking that Srila Prabhupada, seventy years old and he had three such heart attacks but he wasn’t sitting at home with a family and God brothers with modern hospital facilities.

Do Not Give Up When Things are Difficult

Sacinandana Swami - Bhaktivedanta Manor 06 January 2019

Sacinandana Swami - 6 January 2019 - Bhaktivedanta Manor

A Beautiful Evening With HH BB Govinda Swami 7.11.19

HH BB Govinda Swami At Kirtan Rasa 1.12.19

Dhenukasura could not tolerate that they were enjoying what was meant for him. So, he came charging, screaming like an ass. He was big! He was big like mountain. And he approached Balaram and with the strength of an ass in his behind legs, he turned around and with all of his might he started kicking Balaram in the chest. And Balaram just stood there, calmly just tolerating these massive blows. And then Balaram  just was thinking, “What is this? This demon must come to an end because he is trying to enjoy the fruits of His abode. Talavan was His abode.” He considered this is mine and whatever fruits are here are mine to enjoy. This sounds familiar? This is my house and whatever is in this house is mine to enjoy. This is what we called Dhenukasura consciousness. In another words, if anyone who thinks like this, is an ass, no offense or anything. Not that any of you think like this. But it is true. What does an ass think? An ass works hard all day, foaming at the mouth, big burden on him, for what? For little sense enjoyment and he thinks that what I work for, the fruits of my action are mine to enjoy. This is animal consciousness. 
But Balaram who is represented by the spiritual master comes and kills that ass like quality in our hearts and don’t think it’s always so nice, at least to our minds. The spiritual master learns to teach us that all the fruits of our actions, all the fruits of this world are meant for Krishna’s satisfaction. And through his words and through his instructions, in so many ways, he is trying to kill this Dhenukasura ass who is living within the hearts of all of us. That what is the Dhenukasura ass? The tendency to want to be the controller, to think that this is mine to enjoy. So, Balaramji took Dhenukasura by the behind legs and started whirling him around, threw him in the trees and he was dead.  And in the same way the spiritual master, sometimes he just throws us around and we get all dizzy trying to follow his instruction but ultimately what is the purpose? To kill the ass in our heart? And in that pure heart, like the cowherd boys we simply offer all the fruits to Krishna. We enjoy with Krishna. Everything is Krishna’s.

Only Lord Balaram or The Spiritual Master Can Destroy The Demon Of Dhenukasura Within Our Heart

Prayers of the Vaisnava Acaryas III - Tulasi Arati | 27 Dec 2020

Vision means seeing the invisible

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.


A Message for Harmony

Radhanath Swami

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