Sri Rama said: Listen, O sage: I tell you with all the emphasis at my command that I always take care of those who worship Me with undivided faith, even as a mother tends her child. If an infant child runs to catch hold of fire or a snake, the mother rescues it by drawing it aside, When, however, her son has grown up she loves him no doubt, but not as before. The wise are like My grown up sons, while humble devotees are like My infant children. A devotee depends on Me, while the former (a wise man) depends on his own strength; and both have to face enemies like lust and anger. Pondering thus the prudent adore Me and never take leave of devotion even after attaining wisdom.
All Posts (4027)
Sort by
SRI CAITANYA BHAGAVATA
Adi Lila Chapter 3.
1. Even before He took his birth, the Lord propagated the chanting of His holy name.
2. Streams of people went for their bath in the Ganga at the time of the eclipse and all the way they chanted the Lord's name.
3. Some, who from their birth never once uttered the Lord's name, now chanted that name on their way to the Ganga.
4. The sound of chanting emanated from every direction and the Supreme Lord, the best of the brahmins, smiled to Himself as He made His appearance.
5. Sri Jagannatha Misra and Srimati Sacidevi glanced at their child's beautiful face and were over come with unbounded joy.
6. Ladies stood around the child not knowing what to do; fussily they ululated in jubilation.
7. Relatives and friends hurried to see the new born child; Sri Jagannatha Misra's house was a scene of great exultation.
8. Srimati Sacidevi's father, Sri Nilambara Cakravarti, found esoteric and wonderful signs in every house of the child's astrological
"This account originally appeared in a short work by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura entitled, 'Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: His Life and Precepts.' (dated 20th August 1896.)" This was taken from "Prologue" to "Teachings of Lord Chaitanya" (A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. 1974. pages xiii-xxii.) Who better could we find to include here than the pure unalloyed Devotee, and foremost scholar in Vaishnava circles Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura to perform this task. He starts his essay;
Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya in combined Form of Sri Sri Radha Krishna.
"Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born in Mayapur in the town of Nadia just after sunset on the evening of the 23rd Phalguna (1407 Sakadba), answering to the 18th of February 1486 of the Christian Era. The moon was eclipsed at the time of His birth, and the people of Nadia were then engaged, as was usual on such occasions, in bathing in the Bhagirathi with loud cheers of Haribol. His father, Jagannatha Misra, a poor 'brahmana' of the Vedic order, and
Thursday, 5 March is Gaura-Purnima, the appearance date of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Lord Krishna manifested Himself in the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in eastern India in 1486. Basing his work upon the Bhagavad-Gita and the Bhagavata Purana, Sri Caitanya taught the way of Bhakti yoga as the best form of worship when addressing Radha and Krishna. In addition, he popularized the chanting of the Maha-mantra.
Since we are born into the Kali Yuga, in which the ego has become dominant and Dharma is at an all-time low, many felt that ours was the worst age. Sri Caitanya; however, felt that this was the best age to be born into. There is nothing for anyone to do other than to devote themselves to the service of God. If one wanted to come to know God and be in His service, then all one had to do was to repeatedly chant the names of God, since God and the name of God are identical.
Through the maha-mantra (HARE KRSNA, HARE KRSNA, KRSNA KRSNA, HARE HARE/ HARE RAMA, HARE RAMA, RAMA RAMA, HARE HARE),
“One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly”.
--Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 17.31
Srila Madhavendra Puri
Srila Madhavendra Puri appeared in the 14th century. He was a guru of the Brahma or Madhva sampradaya, one of the four (Brahma, Sri, Rudra and Sanaka) Vaishnava lineages that purify the world in the age of Kali.
Madhavendra Puri was the disciple of Lakshmipati-Tirtha. Madhavendra Puri's disciples included Ishvara Puri, Advaita Acharya, Paramananda Puri (a Brahmin from the Tirhu area), Brahmananda Puri, Sri Ranga Puri, Pundarika Vidyanidhi, Raghupati Upadhyaya, and others. Nityananda Prabhu is said by some to be Madhavendra Puri's disciple, others say that Lakshmipati was his guru, while the Prema-vilasa states that he was Ishvara Puri's disciple.
At the time of his departure from this world, Madhavendra Puri was completely absorbed in separation from Krsna and constantly repeated one sloka. This verse is considered by Gaudiya Vaishnavas to be the essence of expression of the mood of separation.
Madhavendra Puri's disappearance day is the sukla dvadasi of the month of
Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Divine Godhead, appeared circa 1500 A.D., Bengal / Orissa, India, who took sannyasa (renounced order) at a very young age, leaving behind His young family, in order to do we the beings of the world a great service by spreading chanting of holy Names to every town and village ! Gauraharibol!
I have put these up on the TSU site, and they have been well received, so I wanted to also share them with the devotees here at SPI. Please enjoy.
" Reason does not liberate one, nor do yoga nor works; unless one acheives states of ecstasy, then the Self has not been touched, all the effort has been useless, more or less. The Self IS in ecstasy, so if it is not tasted, how can we have reached Self?
A moment of spiritual bliss melts away the false ego, it acheives much more in a few magickal moments than years of study or performance of yoga asanas. "
- Tamohara dasa, Bh.S., acbssp
A moment of spiritual bliss melts away the false ego, it acheives much more in a few magickal moments than years of study or performance of yoga asanas. "
- Tamohara dasa, Bh.S., acbssp
This was recently passed on to me, so I am passing it on to you. I think we can all learn from this.
Recipe for Spiritual Success by Krsna Kanta d.d.
Editor's Note:
Krsna Kanta d.d., a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, quite some time ago now passed away in her sleep in Vancouver, Canada.
Her husband Mahadhar Prabhu passed to us the following "Recipe Card", hand written in Krsna Kanta's own writing.
The curious thing about the card is that it has some stains on it,
as the paper had been in the kitchen many times while making this Special Preparation below.
I thought I would share it with the readers of Chakra.__Vipramukhya swami
- 2 Cups of Krsna Conscious (devotional) goals
- 2 Cups of spiritual desire and faith
- 3 Cups of enthusiasm
- 2 Cups of persistence
- 2 1/2 Cups of patience
- 3 Cups of loving devotion to guru, sastra, sadhu
-Sift together the above 6 ingredients and mix thoroughly with lots of saintly devotees
-Pour into "sadhana bhakti" program and simmer
-Do not set aside and cool
Yield: a successful
Purushottama dasa was Stoka Krishna, the cowherd boy in Krishna lila. (In the image: Stoka Krishna).
Purushottama dasa was Stoka Krishna, the cowherd boy in Krishna lila.
From the time he was a small boy, Purushottama dasa Thakura was dedicated to constantly meditating on the lotus feet of Shri Nityananda Prabhu.
CC Adi 11.38: The twenty-third and twenty-fourth prominent Devotees of Nityananda Prabhu were Sadashiva Kaviraja and his son Purushottama dasa, who was the tenth gopala.
CC Adi 11.39: From birth, Purushottama dasa was merged in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, and he always engaged in childish play with Lord Krishna.
CC Adi 11.40: Shri Kanu Thakura, a very respectable gentleman, was the son of Purushottama dasa Thakura. He was such a great Devotee that Lord Krishna always lived in his body.
C.B. Antya 5 Text 742: External consciousness
Elevation to Krishna Consciousness: "Some people complain that when they pray to God they do not feel His presence. We should know that this is due to our incapacities, not God's... The physical conception is temporary, whereas the vibrational conception is eternal. When we enjoy or relish the vibration of Krishna's teachings in Bhagavad-gita, or when we chant Hare Krishna, we should know that by those vibrations He is immediately present. He is absolute, and because of this His vibration is just as important as His physical presence... Such association with Krishna and the spiritual master should be association by vibration, not physical presence. That is real association. We put so much stress on seeing, but when Krishna was present on this earth, so many people saw Him and did not realise that He is God; so what is the advantage of seeing? By seeing Krishna, we will not understand Him, but by listening carefully to His teachings, we can come to the platform of understanding.
We can
To practice bhakti-yoga [loving service to God] means to become free from designations like Hindu, Muslim, Christian, this or that, and simply to serve God. We have created Christian, Hindu, and Mohammedan religions, but when we come to a religion without designations, in which we don’t think we are Hindus or Christians or Mohammedans, then we can speak of pure religion, or bhakti.
.
- Srila Prabhupada, Christ and Krsna, name is same discussion
"When a Vaisnava sees mismanagement in the government, he feels great compassion in his heart and tries his best to purify the situation by spreading the Hare Krsna movement"
--Srimad-Bhagavaam, 6.2.4, Srila Prabhupada purport
If ever there were a time.....
Indradyumna Das shared Golden Volcano's 'All friendly atmosphere...
Devotee: So you said that we want to, we hate the world of exploitation. But in Bhagavad-gita, in the Fourteenth Chapter, Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa are speaking about what are the qualities of a liberated soul, and Kṛṣṇa says he doesn't hate illumination or attachment when they come, he doesn't hate. At the same time. So how are we to despise these things on the one hand...?
Srila Srīdhara Mahārāja: One by exploitation they will hate. And when we are free from exploitation and posted in the plane of service, dedication, then hate is eliminated, then we embrace everything. Only the spirit of dedication can make it possible to embrace everything. And exploitation has no such possibility so we hate that. And exploiting and the hatred, hatred comes from exploitation. And dedication makes everything friend. I don't want anything in its turn. So everything will come to me, I don't want extort my selfish ideas from anything, from
Shrila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja.
Shrila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja lived for one hundred forty-four years. He took diksha from Shri Madhusudana Dasa Babaji and did bhajana for many year at Surya Kunda in Vrindavana. Thakura Bhaktivinoda received valuable instructions on pure devotional service from Jagannatha Dasa Babaji.
His practice was to live six months in Shri Navadwipa dhama and six in Vraja mandala. "During his time," said Thakura Bhaktivinoda, "Shri Jagannatha Dasa Babaji was the.most advanced rasika Vaishnava in Gaura and Vraja mandalas, and Purushottam Kshetra (Jagannatha Puri)." Bhaktivinoda Thakura gave him the title Sarvabhauma, the chief of the Vaishnavas.
At one hundred twenty-five years old his body appeared bent like a semi-circle. His eyelids hung over his eyes like heavy stage curtains. Standing on either side, two disciples would lift his droopy eyelids so he could offer Tulasi manjaris to his Deity of Shri Giriraja Govardhana.
Since Jagann
