The Most Confidential Knowledge / SB 7.9.24

Why is the association of devotees so desirable? / The example of Kanchipurna / Two ways to benefit from devotees

#24 The Most Confidential Knowledge

This is the type of nama sankirtan that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu presented to the world, Naam Sankirtan. It’s not just a performance, when we actually enter into the true mood of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his associates chanting and he’s inviting every single one of us into that spirit. tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā amāninā māna-dena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, when we are chanting in that spirit, then our hearts become one in love. There is transcendental communication, there is transcendental affection between us. You see the ultimate communication is love and affection. That’s the only communication that Krishna accepts, that’s the only communication there is in the spiritual world is the communication of the love that we have for Krishna and the love that we have for each other in our service to Krishna.

Ultimate Communication Is by Love and Affection

He had so much faith in the beautiful, all attractive, all merciful nature of Lord Chaitanya, he had so much faith in the holy names of Radha Krishna, the holy names of God, he stayed on and after some time, a few followers, a little storefront, years later, I believe it was about eight or nine years later, on Fifth Avenue, the most important city in New York, the most important street and the most important city, there was a ratha yatra. The police of New York, they reserved a section of the street only for Jagannath’s chariot, 1000s of people Srila Prabhupada rode upon Subhadra’s chariot, looking out, he started this movement alone. He was looking out at 1000s of devotees and 10s and 1000s of people who were happily participating as the beautiful chariots built by Jayanada Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada’s very intimate follower, we're traveling down Fifth Avenue to Washington Square Park. And every year since then, the rath Yatra has taken place.

What Rath Yatra Represents To All of Us?

Krishna das Kaviraj Goswami explains this internal purpose of the Lord was revealed to the world in its most perfect and complete form through the descent of Lalita sakhi in the form of Swarupa Damodar Goswami. Lalita sakhi is a direct expansion of Srimati Radharani. She is non-different than Srimati Radharani. And similarly, Swarupa Damodar Goswami is non different, he is the direct expansion in the mood of servitude of the internal ecstatic love of Sri Radha which is in the heart of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Swarupa Damodar Goswami was constant companion Lord Chaitanya and His later pastimes in Jagganath Puri. And he is the prominent figure of all Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s associates. Murari Gupta made a note book where he recorded the early pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Navadvip and Swarupa Damodar Goswami who is the personal secretary of Lord Chaitanya recorded in his notebook the pastimes and teachings of Lord Chaitanya in Puri. What we read in Chaitanya Mangal, Chaitanya Bhagvat, Chaitanya-charitamrita consists from the basic foundation of these writings.

Who Is Svarupa Damodar Goswami?

Relationship Between Guru and Disciple by HH Radhanath Swami at Prabhupad Desh ISKCON Vicenza

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

Kirtan Premi - 05.30.21 Sunday Night @NRR

Visvambhar - Adharam Madhuram - 08.30.21 Janmastami @NRR

Why as soon as we become devotees, why don't we just become pure souls and go back to Godhead? For the same reason, because Krishna wants to see the quality of our love. He wants us to develop the quality of our love, then love is developed through the process of sacrifice and if we didn't have to undergo the tests of lust and anger and envy and pride and greed and illusion and all these horrible things that are within us, that we have created ourselves to all of our previous births, we have created the condition of our consciousness but Krishna wants us to face all of these testing elements within our life and with faith and conviction and determination and with trust in the guidance of the great soils and faith in his words, he wants us to pursue to work, to strive, to sacrifice for him. And when he sees that quality in us, then by His mercy, he very gracefully awards love of God to us. You see, love of God is not something that you can acquire. It is already within you, but you'll never find it on your own. It is only when Krishna reveals it by his own sweet will that you can understand where it is. And he reveals it when he sees that you have qualified yourself through sincere devotion and sacrifice, through passing through so many tests, then you have showed your love for him.

Why Krishna Allows Maya to Test His Devotees Very Severely?

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Shubham · ISKCON Baltimore SNK · 5.29.22

Govinda · ISKCON Baltimore SNK · 5.29.22

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.


Relationship Between Guru and Disciple by HH Radhanath Swami at Prabhupad Desh ISKCON Vicenza

Radhanath Swami

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