Festivals

Srila Prabhupada  Lecture on the Disappearance Day of Bhaktisiddhanta  Sarasvati

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu understood that ratha yatra was coming in just two days. He called for Kashi Mishra, the superintendent of the temple and Sarvabhouma Bhattacharya. Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami explains it in this way, ‘he asked their permission if he and his devotees could clean the Gundicha temple to prepare for Jagannath’s arrival.’ This is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s nature. He is asking their permission. Kashi Mishra and the others, “you are the supreme independent supreme personality of Godhead.” This is what they’re thinking. “Whatever you say is our order. King Prataparudra had already told them, “Anything that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wants, do it. That is the first priority of the entire kingdom to satisfy his every desire.” And he was saying these things even though Lord Chaitanya was rejecting him, he was not allowing the king to see him. This is the unconditional nature of King Prataprudhra’s devotional service. There was nothing fruitive.

Satisfaction of Lord Is The First Priority

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

We have to cultivate this humblest position as well. It is question of our consciousness. Are we doing it for our own recognition or are we doing at his service? In the neophyte state we r doing it for both purposes. We have to chant and we have to pray and we have to desire to give up this ego. If we desire to give this ego, gradually through this process u will give up ego. But if u desire to serve your ego, then ultimately Krishna will smash u, he will smash u very hard. Just to show u that u are not the one, he is the one. But in any case, we must perform his order, we must strive internally to do it, with this understanding that we r completely depending on his mercy. We cannot give up our service that is false humility.

What Is Real Humility and False Humility?

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

Visvambhar - Adharam Madhuram - 08.30.21 Janmastami @NRR

Even Srila Prabhupada, “yes, the third world war will purify this world.” To them, they just see the third world war, these bombs are just Krishna’s lotus feet, just dancing on the head of this Kaliya like society, the serpentine society full of venom and poison. And ultimately those feet are meant to just purify through the agency of this type of suffering, purify humanity to the point where they realize – “Krishna I am Yours, I surrender.” And while the bombs are dropping the devotees are singing kirtan, playing Mridangas and showering flowers on Radha Gopinath. This is compassion. It is not cruel. hard heartedness. It is compassion; because real compassion is to pray that every soul can find the supreme joy of taking shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Krishna because even so called pious prosperous conditions of society still everyone has the face the terrible tragedy of the pain of death and everyone has to see the horrible death of all their loved once around them. No matter how nice society is, no matter how peaceful and clean the air may be. This place is a place of suffering. Only taking shelter of Krishna is the relieve. Therefore, a devotee welcomes any opportunity to become purified by the lotus feet of Krishna. However, he decides to dance upon our heads. And as Krishna is dancing upon our heads we are simply more and more and more taking shelter of him.

A Devotee Welcomes Every Opportunity of Distress as the Gift of God

1. Ananta Govinda
2. Dayal Gauranga
3. Keshava
4. Vasudeva

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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.
