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?

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

Dance More! / Special Ratha Yatra Edition / SB 11.2.40

The example of Mahaprabhu dancing before the Ratha Yatra cart / The three elements of dance / Krishna the disappearing butter thief

#31 Dance More! — Special Ratha Yatra Edition

The Touch of Krishna / Special Janmastami Edition / SB 1.11.2

The Lord’s appearance is personal, not just historical / Contact with Krishna spiritualizes our material existence / Krishna’s appearance in Vrindavan

#32 The Touch of Krishna — Special Janmastami Edition

This is Vrindavan, Vrindavan is the land where Krishna is subordinate to the love of his devotees and sometimes gopis will tell Krishna, “If you dance, we will give you one half of a sweet beat”, and they would be smiling, then they'd clap their hands. Krishna was just a little child, you just done this Damodar lila, they're clapping and they're singing and Krishna’s smiling and they're smiling. They’ll say, “We will give you extra sweetmeats” just dance Krishna, dance, and then Krishna dances. They asked him to sing and Krishna sings.  Srimad Bhagavatam explains that Krishna was like a wooden puppet doll being pulled by the strings of the gopis and dancing. Have you seen puppets dance? Krishna, Sukhdev Goswami, Vyasdev says Krishna was like that, a puppet in the hands of his devotees, dancing and dancing and dancing just to give them happiness.

Dancing to The Tune of Love

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

The example is given here of watering the root of the tree. Automatically whole tree is nourished. In that same verse from Bhagvatam it is explained that if you feed food to the belly automatically every limb of the body is nourished. If you simply give food to the stomach, then your whole body will be nourished. Your hands, your legs, your eyes, your brain, your feet, your lungs everything. But can you approach your belly directly? Is it possible? You can only get food to your stomach through your mouth. Krishna is the belly. His dear devotees are like the mouth. Unless you offer to them, unless you please them, unless you satisfy them, whatever you do will never reach Krishna. ‘yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto 'pi’ So, it is this type of determination is resolute purpose that is necessary. Krishna consciousness is achieved by the mercy of the Lord. Only when we want that state of love, when we want that state of service to the Lord through his devotees more than everything and anything else in the world, if there’s anything that you consider more important or a priority to Krishna, you will never see Krishna until you finally realize that Krishna is everything all in all.

Service of The Lord Should Be the First Priority

Maharaj Pariskhit could have done anything his last seven days, but he chose to think of Krishna, to chant and hear His glories. So, let us make our life a beautiful, a wonderful, a meaningful life. A life that is no longer subject to fear or anxiety, a life that is constantly devoted to remembrance of the all beautiful, all merciful Supreme Personality of Godhead, by remembering Krishna we become purified from within and without and for the pure soul, there is only the mercy of God that he sees in every step of his life and therefore he is always peaceful, he is always in a state of love, of compassion. He is always tasting the ultimate beauty of life and that gift is available for you today if you accept it. How to accept it? It is very simple, by surrendering to Krishna, by chanting His name, by following the words of the great souls, that is all Maharaj Pariskhit did, he simply heard from Sukadeva Goswami and followed his words and chanted the name of God, that same benediction is yours.

A Devote Never Subjeccted to Ordinary Material Karma

Aranya Vihari Prabhu - Jhulan Yatra Day 3 - 10.8.22

Dont Live Life with Regrets | June 2022 Almviks Sweden

Krishna Chaitanya - 12.11.22

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.


What Rath Yatra Represents To All of Us?

Radhanath Swami

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