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Sri Shyamananda Prabhu was a servant of a servant of Subala in Krishna-lila. He was the disciple of Hridayananda or Hriday Chaitanya, who was a disciple of Gauri Das Pandit. Gauri Das was Subala in Krishna-lila.
Shyamananda Prabhu was born on the full moon day of Chaitra in 1456 of the Shaka era (1534 AD) in the town of Dharenda Bahadurpura, which is near the Kharigapura railway station in Medinipura. His father was Sri Krishna Mandal and his mother, Durika. Krishna Mandala’s home town was Dandeshvara which lies on the banks of the Suvarnarekha River.
Shyamananda Prabhu’s parents performed the appropriate rituals when the time came: the first eating of solid food, the cutting of hair, etc. As he grew older, he studied Sanskrit grammar, etc. His parents were overjoyed to see his talents and his religious proclivity.
After having carefully listened to the glories of Gauranga and Nityananda from devotees, he was able to repeat them to others. When listening to the activities of Gaura-Nitai or those of Radha and Krishna, tears would flow in waves from his eyes.
He also devotedly served his parents and they told him to get initiated so that he could fully commit himself to the service of the Lord. Duhkhi agreed and told them that he wished to take diksha from Hridaya Chaitanya, the disciple of Nityananda.
When Duhkhi arrived in Ambika Kalna, he threw himslf at the feet of Hridaya Chaitanya, who upon learning his identity, happily gave him Krishna-mantra and named him Krishna Das. From then on Duhkhi was known as Duhkhi Krishna Das. Hridaya Chaitanya ordered him to go to Vrindavan to engage in bhajana.
In Vrindavan, Duhkhi Krishna Das studied the Vaishnava scriptures under Sri Jiva Goswami, who was the leading scholar of the sampradaya. When Hridaya Chaitanya heard of the enthusiasm with which Duhkhi Krishna Das was leading the devotional life in Vraja, he wrote a letter to Jiva Goswami in which he said that Duhkhi should consider Jiva to be an extension of himself.
Jiva gave titles to his three most prominent students, Srinivas, Narottama and Duhkhi Krishna Das, bestowing Shyamananda on the latter. The reasoning behind this name was that he brought great joy to Radha and Shyamasundar.
An extraordinary incident, which took place in Vrindavan prior to his being ordered by Jiva to return to Orissa, demonstrates how dear Shyamananda was to Radharani. One day, Shyamananda Prabhu was sweeping the Rasa-mandala in Vrindavan, absorbed in ecstatic trance.
Suddenly, by Radharanis transcendental mercy, he found her ankle bracelet lying on the ground. In his excitement, he touched the ankle bracelet to his forehead, where it left a mark which is preserved to this day as the tilaka marking of the disciple descendants of Shyamananda. It is known as nupura-tilaka.
Shyamananda Prabhu lived the last part of his life in Nrisinghapura in Orissa where he continued preaching Vaishnavism. His earthly pastimes came to an end on the first day of the waning moon in the month of Asharh in 1552 of the Shaka era (1630 AD).
The Padma Purana states:
yatha radha priya visnoh tasyah kundam priyam tatha
sarvagopisu sevaika visnoratyantavallabha
“Among all the gopis, Srimati Radhaji is most dear to Sri Krsna, being His principal prana vallabha. Similarly, Radhaji’s dear kunda is also very dear to Him.”
The Varaha Purana declares:
sarvapapaharastirtham namaste harimuktidah
namah kaivalyanathaya radhaKrsnabhidhayine
“O Sri Radha-kunda! O Sri Krsna Kunda! You destroy all sins and award one-pointed prema. I bow down to you again and again.” The puranas are filled with innumerable descriptions of the glories of these two kundas.
Sri Radha-kunda lies in a village named Arita Gaon, about three miles north-east of Govardhana and fourteen miles from Mathura and Vrindavana. Aristasura was a servant of Kamsa who assumed the form of a bull and attacked Krsna with the aim of killing Him. However, Krsna killed him instead at this place.
Sri Krsna killed Aristasura during the day. That same night, He met with His beloved Sri Radhika and the other sakhis here. Sri Krsna was very eager to embrace Srimati Radhika, but as soon as He reached out towards Her, She stepped back. Jokingly, She said, “Today, You have killed a bull, which belongs to the cow family. You have therefore committed the sin of killing a cow. Please don’t touch My pure body.”
Krsna smilingly answered, “Priyatame! It was a demon that I killed, who had deceitfully assumed the form of a bull; so how can sin even touch Me?”
Srimati Radharani insisted, “Whatever he was, he had assumed the form of a bull when You killed him. Hence, the sin of killing a cow has definitely touched You.” The sakhis supported Her statements.
Sri Krsna asked how He could atone for this sin. Smilingly, Srimatiji answered, “The only atonement is to take bath in all the tirthas of the entire Earth planet.” Hearing this, Sri Krsna created an extensive kunda simply by striking His heel on the ground. He then summoned all the tirthas of the entire planet to it.
Uncountable tirthas immediately came before Krsna in their personified forms. Krsna asked them to enter the kunda in the form of water. In a moment, the kunda filled with pure, sacred water. Sri Krsna took bath in that kunda and again tried to touch Srimatiji. But Srimati Radhika now wanted to manifest a kunda full of water that was larger and more exquisite than Krsna’s.
She and Her sakhis therefore stubbornly dug out a very attractive kunda nearby with their bracelets. However, not so much as a drop of water appeared in it. Krsna joked that they could take water from His kunda, but Srimatiji along with Her innumerable sakhis prepared themselves to bring water from Manasi Ganga in clay pots. Sri Krsna signaled to the tirthas that they should insist that Srimatiji and Her sakhis fill up their kunda by taking water from His kunda.
The tirthas personified pleased Srimati Radhika by offering Her and the sakhis many prayers. Srimati Radhika then gave them permission to enter Her kunda. Immediately, the current of water that had flowed into Krsna Kunda also filled Radha-kunda. With great pleasure, Sri Krsna bathed and performed water sports (jal-vihara) with Srimati Radhika and the sakhis in this dear kunda.
The TOVP 36-Day Matching Fundraiser is about to begin, offering devotees another opportunity to serve the historic Temple of the Vedic Planetarium, ISKCON’s flagship world project. This year is especially important and crucial to our overall success because we will be completing and opening the Nrsimhadeva Temple in the TOVP, the largest of its kind […]
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The ISKCON Communications Europe Executive Committee (ICE EC) members met for the second time this year in Brussels to meet representatives of European Union Institutions and European faith communities. The meetings aimed to establish contacts, develop trust and cooperation, and specifically organize an interfaith conference on Religion and the Environment at the European Parliament in […]
The post ICE Develops Relationships with European Union Institutions and Faith Communities in Brussels appeared first on ISKCON News.
Stowe Lake courtesy of Daderot, Wikimedia Commons Tucked away in San Francisco’s expansive Golden Gate Park is a lovely lake with an island called Stowe Lake. It was a favorite spot for Srila Prabhupada to circumambulate during his daily morning walks. “One of the great pleasures for devotees in San Francisco was taking these early […]
The post Srila Prabhupada’s Early Disciples Support Installation of Commemorative Plaque at Stowe Lake appeared first on ISKCON News.
The *2022* GBC Resolutions have finally been released. Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic, the GBC Body couldn’t conduct in-person meetings, and therefore the 2022 AGM (Annual General Meeting) was conducted online. Thankfully, the 2023 AGM, however, began as a regular in-person meeting in Mayapur and will continue online in the upcoming months. The GBC […]
The post 2022 GBC Resolutions Finally Released After Pandemic Challenges appeared first on ISKCON News.
HG Anuttama Dasa, Minister of ISKCON Communications, will hold a Communications Course at Bhaktivedanta College/Radhadesh on May 12-15th, 2023. The four-day course is a rare opportunity to learn about approaches and techniques for communicating with key audiences such as interfaith groups, media, politicians, Hindu communities, academics, and our internal ISKCON community and members. “Many past […]
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The ICE EC Team is preparing for the upcoming international ISKCON Communications Conference at Villa Vrindavana, Italy to be held May 27th – 30th, 2023. About 60-70 ISKCON leaders, senior devotees, and devotees engaged in communications service from Europe and other parts of the world are expected to participate. Many important topics within ISKCON and […]
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April Fools’ Day is celebrated yearly on April 1, and today I thought of Srila Prabhupada’s instruction that we remain fools before the spiritual master, as stated in a room conversation in Bombay, August 16, 1976.
A devotee asked, “Even nitya-siddha has guru . . . even the liberated soul, nitya-siddha?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Liberated soul never says that ‘I am liberated.’ As soon as he says ‘liberated,’ he’s a rascal. A liberated soul will never say that ‘I am liberated.’ That is liberation. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He is God—guru more murkha dekhi’ karila sasan [Cc Adi 7.71]: ‘My guru maharaja saw Me fool number one, and he has chastised Me.’ He’s God. This is the example. If one remains always a servant, everlastingly, of guru, then he is liberated. And as soon as he thinks that he is liberated, he’s a rascal. That is the teaching of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Guru more murkha dekhi’. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is murkha? Why He is posing Himself that murkha, ‘I am fool number one’? That means that is liberation. You must be ready always to be chastised by guru. Then he’s liberated. And as soon as he thinks that ‘I am beyond this chastisement. I am liberated,’ he’s a rascal. Why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says guru more murkha dekhi’ karila sasan? This is sahajiya-vada, thinking, ‘Oh, I have become liberated. I don’t require any direction of my guru. I’m liberated.’ Then he’s rascal. . . . So better remain a foolish person perpetually to be directed by guru maharaja. That is perfection.”
In a letter dated December 14, 1967, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “I may inform you that you cannot be fool as you have humbly expressed yourself. Better to remain ever a fool before the spiritual master. But if a disciple is actually fool, it reflects on the spiritual master. To think of becoming a fool is the real qualification for a bona fide disciple. As soon as one thinks that he has become a wiser man than the spiritual master, one is surely doomed. We should remain everlastingly a fool before the spiritual master—not artificially but feelingly—and then we can make real progress. Even my spiritual master, a great scholar, remained a so-called fool before his spiritual master, who was outwardly an illiterate village fellow. So, in the absolute world the fool is also the master and the master is also a fool in reciprocal exchange of dealings. Lord Chaitanya also accepted Himself a great fool before His spiritual master, and all of us must follow the transcendental process.”
I pray to be directed by Srila Prabhupada eternally as his humble servants’ servants’ servant.
Hare Krishna.
Your servant,
Giriraj Swami
By Vijaya Das Good news from Africa! The island of Mauritius had an exemplary month this February. Phoenix did 1,479 book points, a 999% increase. Phoenix was the No. 1 temple in Africa, and Triolet the No. 2 temple, with 688 book points. Mauritius is a small island with few residents, but the devotees are determined to distribute as many books as they can for the pleasure of Sri Krsna and Srila Prabhupada. Continue reading "WSN February 2023 – World Sankirtan Newsletter
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