Saraswati Vandana

Yaa Kundendu tushaara haaradhavalaa,

Yaa shubhravastraavritha

Yaa veenavara dandamanditakara,

aa shwetha padmaasana

Yaa brahmaachyutha shankara

prabhritibhir Devaisadaa Vanditha

Saa Maam Paatu Saraswatee

Bhagavatee Nihshesha jaadyaapahaa

Meaning: May the Goddess Saraswati protect me. She is fair like the jasmine-colored moon, and whose pure white garland is like frosty dew drops. She is adorned in radiant white attire, on whose beautiful arm rests the veena, and whose throne is a white lotus. She is surrounded and respected by the Gods. Please remove my weariness, sluggishness and ignorance.

Shri Uddhav das sings the glories of Raghunandan, who is non different from Madan (Cupid).

   Shri Mukunda Das, Madhava Das and Shri Narahari Sarakar Thakur were three brothers who lived in the village of Shri Khanda. Raghunandan was the son of Shri Mukunda Das. [C. C. Mad 15]

   In the house of Shri Mukunda Das, who lives at Shri Khanda, Lord Shri Gopinath is served with great devotion. One day Mukunda was called out to do some work, and then he instructed his son Raghunandan to worship the Deity and asked him to serve the Lord Gopinath that day. He explained to him that this Deity is in our family for many generations and thus He has been worshipped by my father and his father and his father on and on, in this way for many years. Just as your mother feeds you and I everyday, so also He has to be fed everyday. Having explained to Raghunandan that this is a very big responsibility and he should be very careful to give his full attention to this service, Mukunda went out. Raghunandan mean

Comment on Mantra 18 of Sri Isopanisad:

This is the final mantra of Sri Isopanisad, and is translated by Srila Prabhupada as follows: “O my Lord, as powerful as fire, O omnipotent one, now I offer You all obeisances, falling on the ground at Your feet. O my Lord, please lead me on the right path to reach You, and since You know all that I have done in the past, please free me from the reactions to my past sins so that there will be no hindrance to my progress” (p. 133). This final mantra summarizes what has come before, and reminds us that the path to self- realization is found by surrendering to Lord Sri Krsna.

As we have already seen, it is easy to be led astray in this materialistic world. We can incur sin in so many ways, but as humans we are able to do something about it. Of the 8.400.000 forms of life in the universe, humans are the only species to be able to attain self-realization. Through the study of the Bhagavad-Gita, we find that there are many paths one may follow whil

Appearing in 1638, Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura (Hari Vallabha Dasa) came in the disciplic succession from Sri Narottama Dasa Thakura. Visvanatha took diksa from Sri Radha Ramana Cakravarti. Although married, Visvanatha was indifferent and soon renounced family life. He came to Vrindavana dhama and did Krishna bhajana at Radha-kunda.
 
He was known as "the crest jewel of the Vaisnavas" because of his pure devotion, scholarship, and realized perception of Radha Gokulananda's intimate conjugal pastimes. Gaudiya authorities say that Sri Rupa Goswami is vag-devavatara (an incarnation of the god of speech). And Gaudiya acaryas, especially among his direct disciples, believe that Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura is an incarnation of Sri Rupa Goswami.

Among all Gaudiya Vaisnava acaryas only Visvanatha Cakravarti comes close to matching Srila Rupa Goswami's profound realizations on the Absolute Truth. Visvanatha Cakravarti's name itself implies his position. Visvanatha means "He who reveals the

 (From an Evening darśana, Bhubaneswar, 1990)

Devotee: Should we accept someone as an authority if they have material attachments and are not situated on the spiritual platform?

Srila Gour Govinda Swami: We accept because we are in a society. Someone may be GBC of some region of the world, so according to the management system he is authority. But by the spiritual system, unless I am convinced, I cannot accept him as authority. That is up to me. I have independence. It is my choice. As far as the management system goes, I accept him because he is GBC. But as far as spiritual things go, unless I am convinced I cannot accept. “Please excuse me.” Acceptance of someone as a spiritual authority should not be forced or compulsory. That is a principle.

For me to accept someone as a spiritual authority my heart must be convinced, because it is based on the desire of the heart. It is not an external thing. It is internal. Acting in that way is not offensive. I am not disregarding him. He is a

Comment by Welcome on October 7, 2011 at 18:24

Intelligence involves discrimination. Without a clear understanding of self-identity, the intelligence is very limited ; illusion-interpreted inputs leads to a bad output. Therefore, we cannot help but make errors and be under the spells of illusion and karma so long we identiy with nonessential temporary things and identities.

By hearing words of true wisdom, one 's path is immediately cleared, like with a fog lamp through the night. The Lord and His pure servants give us instructions and set an example how we can try to also follow. When one then acts upon this true knowledge of self, by graceful kindness, one realizes an identity as eternal servant of Godhead, then one becomes fully liberated. All this by the process of hearing and reading, repeating and chanting, understanding deeply and realizing fully, in due course.

Anand, Prabhu; we can just imagine how much good could be done if the world used its God-given intelligence rightly a

Lucifer's Freemason Lie; Wallace and Darwin; Theory of "Survival of the Fittest"

Reality; What they said is a lie, not even observable. ALL members of a species survive and reproduce, except those who are thoroughly sick or inadept, that is what is actually seen in nature, not the nonsense taught to us in Satan's classroom led by demonic Illuminati and their endless comparmentalized fronts and indoctrinarians.

So, we are being sold the lie that there is a struggle for the meanest rascal dog to claw their way to the top of the dog heap. Royal tyrants justify their crimes by saying they are the most fit. In short, selfish greedy lying creeps use this Nazionist philosophy to oppress and abuse others, giving it a scientific "glow", when in actuality it is a con meant to divide and conquer us all.

Life comes from life, life is interdependent, there is no contest to play God except in the heated minds of the demons.

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa is everything. The atheist will say, "Oh, they have installed some wooden forms and they are worshiping as gods." Atheistic. And one who knows the Kṛṣṇa science, he'll understand that "Kṛṣṇa is everything; therefore He can appear in everything." If electricity current is everywhere, so wherever you touch current you'll feel, "Here is current." Similarly, the Kṛṣṇa current in impersonal form is everywhere. It is the technician who knows how to use that current. That's all.

So... Just like we get telephone connection. We simply inform the person, deposit our money. They come immediately. They find out where the connection can be done and he does his work. We do not know. He knows the technique, how to join telephone wire. Within a few seconds he joins and he, oh, "kling, kling," you are ready.
So one must know how to connect Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is everywhere. This is Kṛṣṇa conscious movement. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One must know how we can derive from these features of

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Jaya! GAURAHARIBOL!

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The Sun enters the Makara raasi (the zodiac sign of Capricorn – the goat), on Sankranti day, signifying the onset of Uttarayana Punyakalam. Many a traditional folk form add glory to the festive scenario.

The following has been translated from an article in Sadachara Vybhavam of the great Vaishnava devotee Sripad Madhvacharya.

Today is "Makara Sankranti"  which is celebrated when the Sun begins the northward journey, marking the beginning of the "uttaraayana punyakaalam". Sun enters the sign of "Makara", (Capricorn) from Cancer at this time. (This is also called equinox, when the day and nights are exactly the same). Starting this day, the duration of day starts to increase until "dakshiNaayanam" comes. Makara Sankranti signifies two things. One is the changing path of Sun and other is the beginning of "Uttarayana Punyakaala" Makara literally means "Capricorn" and sankranti means "change" or 'sankramaNa' literally means 'crossing'.

On this day, it is said that Sun passes from one Zodiac s

• Posted by Arnold Smith on January 14, 2015 at 9:15 in Sri Isopanishad Class
• Back to Sri Isopanishad Class Discussions

PAMHO devotees,

Many appologies for my extended absence from the forum. I have been away from technology for the last month, but I am back now. As always, I welcome any comments you might have on this penultimate commentary. Hare Krsna!

Comment on Mantra 16 and 17 of Sri Isopanisad:

The 16th mantra merely builds upon the previous. It simply asks that since the effulgence which emanates from the Godhead keeps one from seeing clearly that the Lord might remove this effulgence so that we might see rightly the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In the 17^th Mantra, Srila Prabhupada comments that “the highest development of one’s spiritual sense is described in this mantra: One should give up the material body, which will be turned to ashes, and allow the air of life to merge into the eternal reservoir of air” (p.125). We have seen that the material body is not the tr

He mentions an especially touching conversation Shri Gaurasundara had with Vishnupriya Devi the night before He took sannyasa. Being a talented musician, Lochana Dasa told Mahaprabhu's pastimes in beautiful poetry filled with fire and rhythm. Common people could easily understand the divine character of Shri Chaitanya and awaken their religious feelings. As Devotees regularly chant the Vedic epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, Gaudiya Vaishnava's still wander through Bengal reciting the Chaitanya Mangala. (In the image: Shri Gaurachandra, ISKCON Chowpatty, Mumbai).

   Shri Lochana Dasa Thakura was a disciple of Shri Narahari Sarakara Thakura, a dearest associate of Lord Gaura Raya.
 
   "My hope of hopes is to be near the lotus feet of Shri Narottama Dasa Thakura and serve him with my very life. The cherished desire of the fallen Lochana Dasa is to be allowed, by Narahari's grace, to sing the glories of Lord Gauranga. My Lord is Shri Narahari Thakura, I am His servant. Bowing before him I beg

Three hundred years before the appearance of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Shri Jayadeva Goswami served as the court pandita of Shri Lakshmana Sena, King of Bengal. Jayadeva and Padmavati (his wife and an expert dancer) used to worship Lord Shri Krishna with single-minded devotion. (In the image: Jayadeva Goswami and his wife Padmavati).

   Three hundred years before the appearance of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Shri Jayadeva Goswami served as the court pandita of Shri Lakshmana Sena, King of Bengal. Jayadeva and Padmavati (his wife and an expert dancer) used to worship Lord Shri Krishna with single-minded devotion. After some time, he left the opulent royal life to live peacefully in a grass hut in Champahatti, Navadwipa. Here Jayadeva wrote Gita Govinda.

   One day while working on Gita Govinda Jayadeva felt inspired to write, "Krishna bows down to touch the lotus feet of Shrimati Radharani." Jayadeva was hesitant to say something which might diminish Lord Krishna's position as the Supreme

Shri Gopala Bhatta Goswami.

   Shri Gopala Bhatta Goswami (the son of a Vyenkata Bhatta, a Shri Vaishnava brahmana) appeared in Shri Rangam, South India. Lord Chaitanya once stayed four months in his home, and converted the family to Gaudiya Vaishnavism. A mere boy at this time, Gopala personally served the Lord. Shri Chaitanya treated him affectionately giving His remnants and blessings to' become an acharya.

   During His four month stay, Lord Chaitanya developed a close friendship with Vyenkata Bhatta, which Krishna Dasa Kaviraja describes as "sakhya rasa." Freely conversing with each other, they would often laugh and joke together. One day in a humorous mood Lord Chaitanya asked Vyenkata:

   "Why does your worshipable goddess of fortune, Shri Lakshmidevi, abandon the happiness of Vaikuntha and her service to Her Lord Narayana? Why does she go to Vrindavana and perform severe austerities to attain the association of My Lord Gopala, the cowherd boy of Vraja?"

   "I can't understand these