Amala Prabhu - Radhadesh Mellows 2015 (Day 2)

recorded with iXY rode mic on Dec 31st 2016

BB Govinda Swami - Midnight Kirtan @ Kirtan 50 Day 2 HD

Kirtan Premi 1.1.19 24hr Vrindavan Kirtan Mandali

A Devotee Never Complains, He Is Always Grateful

Janeshwar Das 7.2.20 Nityananda Trayodasi Abhishek Kirtan

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

we have to understand the value of what Krishna wants to give us. And then we perform the austerity of hearing, whether we have a taste or not a taste, we do it because it is our service, we do it because it is pleasing to our Guru Maharaj and Krishna. We do it for the purification of our heart and our soul, and also if we serve devotees nicely, if we serve vaishnavas nicely then Krishna gives us the higher taste. 
śuśrūṣoḥ śraddadhānasya
vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ
syān mahat-sevayā viprāḥ
puṇya-tīrtha-niṣevaṇāt
in Bhagavatam, it says that if one humbly and submissively serves the devotees, Krishna gives the higher taste to hear the glories of the Lord to that person. If you are serving vaishnavas with sincerity and attention, then Krishna will give you the higher taste for hearing his glories. So, these two things together, we must hear every day as an austerity, 
naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
and we must serve vaishnavas to please them, to help them, then Krishna will give you that higher taste to hear the glories of the Lord. Then he is pleased with you

How To Develop The Taste For Reading Srila Prabhupada's Books?

He said, ‘I have been chanting 16 rounds for 3 years now but I never knew how to say it, because I never met a devotee. I am only saying what I am reading.’ He said, ‘but I never knew that there was such thing as devotees till I saw you.’ Somehow or other he found out about our New Vrindavan. So, He said, ‘I have come to surrender.’ He said, ‘I want to surrender everything.’ He said, ‘This is what I read that I am suppose to surrender everything.’ Then he said, ‘Sarvadharmanparityadya’ and he said it in all different ways, He said, ‘you are supposed to abandon everything and surrender to Krishna. This is what I have learned from reading this book. So, I want to surrender everything to Krishna.’ So, he had a house trailer, he had 2 cars, he had about a 50 thousand dollars with a welding equipment. He said, ‘Am I allowed to give all this to my guru? Because I read you are supposed to give everything to your guru.’ I said, ‘Yes, you are supposed to do like this.’ He said, ‘I have permission?’ I said, ‘I am Sure you can get permission.’ Now this is an example of someone who never met a devotee before but was living perfectly as a devotee for 3 years and completely and properly understood our whole philosophy, didn’t understand the proper pronunciation, just by coming in contact with one of these wonderful books. So, this is the power of transcendental knowledge. This is the greatest service that we can offer to humanity, by somehow or other influencing people’s lives by which they could live according to this transcendental knowledge. The world is suffering so terribly because of the lack of proper understanding of the goal of life.

Anecdote About Bhagavad Gita's Influence

Queen Kunti prayed for tribulations, because it helped her to always be crying out for Krishna’s mercy. If we hear every day with the proper frame of mind from the sadhus, Srimad Bhagavatam, we don’t have to be put in terrible tribulations. Through hearing we understand that we are already in tribulation, whether we are in the crocodile mouth at the present time or whether the crocodile is about to devour us, they are both urgent emergency conditions of life. If we are not being crushed by Maya, we are about to be crushed by Maya. We should see it and we should know it, and we should help one another to never forget it. Don’t be complacent, don’t waste time. We may have tilak and kanthi mala and we may be wearing dhoti, but don’t be complacent. Don’t take Krishna Consciousness for granted, don’t think everything is all right, don’t think Krishna is giving me what I want and I can enjoy life and at the same time make a little spiritual advancement.

Don't Be Lethargic

Gaura Mani - Gopi Geet Bhajan 23.11.20

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

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.


How To Develop The Taste For Reading Srila Prabhupada's Books?

Radhanath Swami

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