Lord Chaitanya continued if the devotee continues watering the seed with the embroidery on nectarine shower of hearing and chanting, guarding against the offences and guarding against weeds, the bhakti lata beej grows. It grows beyond all the middle and upper planetary systems of this universe, beyond even Brahma Loka. It pierces the cover of the universe, it goes beyond even the entire material cosmos. Beyond material existence is an area called the Viraja. It is like a river that is the border between the material and spiritual worlds. The creeper pierces through the Viraja and enters into the spiritual sky. The unlimited all-pervading spiritual light of the lord, it continues to grow up to the level of the Vaikuntha planets. The devotee continues on hearing and chanting. The creeper enters into the supreme most of all spiritual abodes, Goloka Vrindavan. There, the creeper of devotion produces a beautiful ripened fruit, the fruit of pure unalloyed love for Krishna. That fruit of love of God is offered to the lotus feet of Sri Krishna. Krishna is very pleased to accept that love. And then the gardener tastes the sweetness of the fruit. Thus, he enters into a state of unlimited spiritual ecstasy. And mean while he is still in the material world, hearing and chanting, while his devotional creeper is in Goloka Vrindavan.

2001 Devotional Nectar

Lord Chaitanya’s Teachings to Rupa Goswami at Prayag (Part 1)

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.
