Spiritual Master

संख्या योग्य

In service to Krishna, we are serving Krishna to please him. If we are acting enthusiastic and eager so that people will think we are an advanced devotee, then that's a materialistic perception. But if my Guru Maharaj or Srila Prabhupada wants me to be eager to chant the Holy Name, if he wants me to be eager to hear Srimad Bhagavatam, if he wants me to be eager to read his books, if he wants me to be eager to come for the aratis to worship the deities, if he wants me to be eager to distribute his books or to preach to others or serve the Vaishnavas or whatever we're doing that eagerness for the pleasure of Krishna, whether we feel eager or not is a detail.

How to Please Our Spiritual Master?

“Finding the fault within a spiritual person is like looking at pod marks in the moon.” The moon is generating volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes of light, so beautiful, ‘look at that mark in the moon.’

If You Focus on Good Qualities, Faults Will Disappear

Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 07 - 07 - 32 by HG Vaikuntha Nitai Prabhu on 2016 - 09 - 30 at ISKCON Mayapur

ISKCON Mayapur Srimad Bhagavatam 07 - 07 - 32 - Vaikuntha Nitai Prabhu

Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 07 - 07 - 25 by HG Gita Nagari Prabhu on 2016 - 09 - 23 on ISKCON Mayapur

ISKCON Mayapur Srimad Bhagavatam 07 - 07 - 25 - Gita Nagari Prabhu

1. Brihad Bhagavatamritam Day - 1 Session - 1 (12.9.17) @Ujjain

Kadamba Kanana Swami - Vibhavari Sesa

The Purpose Of Harinaam Initiation

Sometimes we becomes complacent, everything is going very nice, our family life is going nice, our children are becoming nice devotees, all of our economic problems are not problems at all and everyone likes us and we are being very respected, when we come to the temple and our sadhana is very strong.  Even when all this is there, Maya is ready to trap you, by making you feel, that everything is all right, that’s giving you a sense of complacency in your own service and in your own position in society.  But, to advance in Kåñëa Consciousness, there must be greed and eagerness and anxiety for more and a receptive heart to receive the directions and the blessings by which we can receive that, that must always be there.  That’s why it is important to regularly hear Çrémad Bhagvatam.  You see, just like in surgery, sometimes you are stabbed, sometimes you are cut, but we don’t want anesthesia, we want to feel the pain, as the knife of the Sadhu’s words go into our heart, because it keeps us awake, it keeps us alive, it keeps us feeling a sense of discontentness, in our present situation so we can strive and hanker and long for more.  So at this very time, Närada appeared, it’s wonderful!  Närada did not appear until Vedavyäsa was in distress.  But, we find this is the case wherever there is a proper transmission of transcendental knowledge.  Kåñëa didn’t speak to Arjuna until he was in distress, until he was longing for guidance until he felt himself incapable, then Kåñëa, He waited for that moment, similarly Sukadeva Goswami, he didn’t speak to Maharaj Parikshit until, he was cursed to die in seven days, he was eager, he was anxious as Arjuna was, as Vyasdeva is, so at this time Kåñëa sends Çré Närada Muni

The Proper Consciousness To Approach A Spiritual Master

sometimes we find that devotees who are not properly cultured in what Vishnavism  truly is in these higher realms of consciousness, sometimes they become proud and sometimes they think they really do not require to hear anything from anyone because they already know. ‘I’ve already read the books, I know so many slokas, I’m such a good preacher, I’m giving so much good guidance to others, I’m content, I’m very good.’ But can you compile the four Vedas, the eighteen Puranas in perfect metric poetry, the Mahabharata, the Vedanta sutra, the itihasas, the Çrémad Bhagvatam and some of these literatures, not only did he compose them, but he wasn’t sitting there with a computer deleting things and going over what he has already done with editors and proof readers like even the best authors today, he wasn’t scratching out. He was just speaking and as he was speaking, without stopping Ganapati was writing and they made a pact that if you stop writing, I will stop speaking; if you stop speaking, I will stop writing.  So, I believe the whole Mahabharata was written in this way, no stopping, perfect Sanskrit grammar, poetry, everything is there included within that is the Bhagavad-gétä, representing the highest truths. Are you so competent to compile all the Vedic literatures? Yet Vyäsadeva was still feeling himself in need, depending on some higher power to full fill his purpose. He was still longing for direction for guidance. And actually even in the spiritual world, when you are in an absolutely perfect spiritual form, siddha deha, your Swarupa, Bhakta Swarupa, even at that time; you are never thinking that “I’m very good, I have done enough.” In Vrindavan we find everyone is thinking, what more can I do for Kåñëa? And everyone is under a higher authority, everyone is anxious to do more service, anxious to learn more and receptive to hear ‘How can I do more service for the pleasure of Radha and Kåñëa?’ Çrémati Radharani is the original supreme most spiritual master and from her Lalita Vishaka, the sakhis, Citra sakhi, Induleka sakhi, Campalata, Ranga devi, Sudevi, these sakhis, they all have their manjari associates: Rupa manjari, Vilas manjari, like that. And all of the most perfected begins in the forms of Braja gopis they are always anxious to do more service, always feeling themselves that they haven’t done enough and therefore they are always eager hear from their authorities, from their gurus and receive direction of how they can best serve and please Radha and Kåñëa? So, this is the eternal nature of the perfectly liberated soul. In the path of Bhakti, we are never content; we are always depending and aspiring for the blessings and the mercy of our seniors to guide us, to direct us and to bless us.  So how much greater is to understand us here, in this world in our conditioned state?

The Necessity of Hearing From Spiritual Master at Every Stage of our Spiritual Life

It is explained that Brahmä is the father of all Vidhis and he is the embodiment of all transcendental knowledge and Vedavyas, worshipping, respecting and offering veneration to his guru on an equal level to that of Brahmäji and because Vedavyas was approaching in this spirit, and this is very important to understand, he wasn’t approaching Närada because Närada was Närada, he was approaching Närada with such respect and submissiveness because Närada was the representative of Brahmä and Kåñëa and this is the difference between a personality cult and a proper religion based on truth. However wonderful a person may speak, however handsome a person may move his body, however empowered one may be with siddhis or charismatic, if we actually want to learn the truth, we do not respect and venerate that person because of what he is.  We respect and venerate that person because of what that person represents and we have seen too often, how often times disciples or followers, they lose that perception and they think that this is my guru and whatever he says doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter any guru, it doesn’t matter any sadhu or any Shashtra, to me, he is God, God is speaking through him. In this way, we are in the wrong consciousness; we do not understand how to approach a spiritual master. Vedavyasa is teaching us, because he is representing Brahmä, therefore I will hear from him and I will offer him all respect and veneration, I will surrender to his lotus feet. Similarly, in this movement, we should respect and adore someone because they are representing Prabhupada and Bhatkisiddhanta, Gaurakishora, Bhaktivinoda, Jagganatha Das babaji, Narottama Das Thakur, Çrénivasa Acharaya, Kåñëadas Kaviraja Goswami, Raghunatha Das Goswami, Rupa and Sanatana, Swarop Damodar Goswami, Nityanada Prabhu, Çré Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ishwara Puri, Madhavendra Puri, Lakshmipati, Madhaväcärya, Vyasa, Närada and Kåñëa; and Kåñëa is the disciple of Radharani. Caitanya Caritamrita states this, Kåñëa says, ‘that Radharani, her Bhakti, her love is so much, so deep, so great, that, that love is my guru. I am controlled by it, I am the servant of it, I dance according to her love.’  So, Radha and Kåñëa, their loving affairs is the supreme guru and we must know that this mercy, this grace, this knowledge must come down through proper disciplic succession.  And we must honour and venerate those persons, not necessarily just one person, but those persons who are properly representing that truth.

How To Approach A Spiritual Master And His True Representative?

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.
