A Greedy Gang of Thieves: Srila Vrindavana Dasa Thakura has narrated this astonishing pastime in Chaitanya-bhagavata (Antya-khanda 5.527–706). The leader of the gang, who had been born in a brahmana family, had rejected religious principles to associate with wicked, materialistic people and lead a sinful life of cheating, stealing, and even murder. Fortunately for him, he dwelled in the holy land of Navadvipa when Lord Nityananda was performing His pastimes there. Lord Nityananda was residing with a devotee named Hiranya Pandita. Although Hiranya Pandita was poor, his heart was rich with pure love of God, and Lord Nityananda appreciated his company so much that He left His other associates to stay in Hiranya Pandita's home. Unlike Hiranya Pandita, the thief lacked such appreciation for the spiritual wealth of Lord Nityananda's company. He simply coveted others' material assets under the illusion that these would somehow make him happy. One day, the thief spied Nityananda Prabhu near Hiranya Pandita’s house. He saw that the Lord wore golden bracelets, armlets, and earrings set with pearls. Necklaces made of gold, coral, jewels, and pearls adorned His beautiful body. Enchanted by such dazzling splendor, the thief craved the Lord’s wealth. He stealthily followed the Lord to ascertain His residence, and informed his companions of his great discovery. “My dear brothers,” the thief announced. “Our days of suffering are about to end. I have seen the most valuable jewels all together in one place, on the body of Nityananda. He is staying alone in the house of Hiranya Pandita, so tonight let us go there and rob everything.” Continue reading "Lord Nityananda Delivers the Thieves
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The Inseparables.
Purushottam Nitai Das: As fragrance from flower and sweetness from sugar is inseparable so is Nitai inseparable from Nimai. They enjoy each other’s company, appear on earth together and together they perform many pastimes to attract the heart of those who left the beauty of the spiritual world and got caught in this not so happy place.
Nitai is none other than Lord Balaram and he enjoys serving Krishna anywhere and everywhere. As Ananta-Shesha he is the bed of Lord Vishnu in Vaikuntha, as Ananga manjari he assists Srimati Radharani in her amorous pastimes with Krishna, as Lakshmana he is ready to do anything and everything for Lord Rama and in Kaliyuga he accompanies Lord Chaitanya to introduce sankirtan movement to distribute mercy of Krishna to all the living entities without caring and bothering about the recipients’ qualification.
We cannot get the mercy of Radha and Krishna without getting the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, and we cannot get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya without getting the mercy of Lord Nityananda.
Rupa Goswami (the abhidheya acharya), Sanatana Goswami (the sambandha acharya), Raghunath Das Goswami (the prayojana acharya) who played a very vital role in spearheading bhakti movement got the mercy of Lord Chaitanya through Lord Nityananda.
Chaitanya Bhagavata and Chaitanya-charitamrta, the two most authoritative and authentic biographies of Lord Chaitanya were written by the inspiration of Lord Nityananda. Nityananda Prabhu ordered his disciple Vrindavana Dasa Thakura to write Sri Caitanya Bhagavata and he appeared in the dream of Krishna Dasa Kaviraja Goswami inspiring him to author Chaitanya-charitamrta.
Upon the instruction of Lord Chaitanya, Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakura were approaching each person beseeching them to chant the names of Krishna. While distributing the sublime love of Krishna freely they encountered Jagai and Madhai, the two wicked personalities. They were so sinful that pious residents upon seeing them used to bathe in Ganges to get purified from contamination.
But Nityananda Prabhu decided to deliver them too but in return Madhai assaulted him with an earthen pot. Lord Chaitanya upon getting this news became so angry that he called his sudarsan chakra to kill Madhai but Nityananda prabhu begged the Lord to forgive the offender. In this age of Kaliyuga the Lord was not supposed to kill the sinner but was to kill their sin using the weapon of the holy name. Seeing the magnanimity of Nityananda Prabhu, Jagai and Madhai surrendered to them giving up all ungodly behaviour and decided to chant the name of Krishna and serve all the Vaisnavas.
Lord Chaitanya is always present at these 4 places:
At mother Sachi’s house
At the kirtan of Srivas Pandit
At the house of Raghav Pandit
At the place where Lord Nityananda is dancing while performing kirtan.
And Lord Nityananda is always present where Lord Chaitanya is glorified. So the best way to please Nityananda Prabhu is by distributing Lord Chaitanya’s message profusely.
Nitai and Nimai freely distributed one way ticket to the spiritual world to everyone. We too can get that ticket if we take shelter of Nityananda prabhu’s lotus feet. He is so magnanimous that he will surely take us back to the kingdom of Krishna if we are sincere and carry desire to serve the Lord.

Lord Nityananda - The epitome of Compassion. So Lord Nityananda, he was in the sublime mood. Although he was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he took the most humble position in order to satisfy Lord Gaurasundara. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was Patitapavana Avatara. That means He came especially to claim the most fallen and sinful of all living beings. And there is nothing that satisfies Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu more than distributing love of god to another. Therefore lord Nityananda, he would go on both banks of the Ganges and he would approach every house, in every town, and in every village, anybody individually with folded palms come to the most fallen, sinful people of Kali yuga and plead with them, “take with them of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu”. Continue reading "Lord Nityananda Appearance Day
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February 20. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Remembering Prabhupada Favorably.
When I read Conversations With Srila Prabhupada, I find that although one can come close to Prabhupada by reading them, they give a very stripped-down picture of him. We don’t see how he looks as he speaks, how he moves, what his non-verbal language is. We see only his words printed in black and white. We could get the wrong idea about Prabhupada by seeing only the words. But it is also true that as we read one conversation after another, Prabhupada’s presence seems to accumulate in our minds and we begin to see all the non-spoken gestures, too.
It takes faith to hear from Prabhupada. Don’t think that Prabhupada’s presence can be gained without faith. Don’t think it is wrong to be faithful, or to be favorable toward Prabhupada. Don’t think feeling these things is in competition with anything else in your life. You want your love to be revived. There is no logical calculation involved, no prerequisite emotional objectivity. You simply have to satisfy your own sense of service and inquiry at his lotus feet. You have to satisfy your own sense of truthfulness by engaging your intelligence and your heart in understanding what he is saying to you. Krishnadasa Kaviraja tells us to use our intelligence dynamically to study the qualities and character of Lord Caitanya. Don’t argue with yourself (or with your spiritual master). And don’t find fault.
This is remembrance of Prabhupada in a favorable mood. There is work to be done – we have to throw aside everything unfavorable in our remembrance. Therefore, we have to understand the science of Krishna consciousness, the nature of the work to be done. If we don’t know the difference between weeds and flowers, how can we expect our garden to produce fruit? If we don’t know the difference between non-favorable meditation and favorable meditation, how can we expect our spiritual life to increase?
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=5

Jananivas das S.B.7.1.30 – Feb 11th 2016

Remembering Prabhupada Favorably

Gita verse-by-verse study Podcast

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The post Gita 09.28 – Bhakti accommodates even those for whom bhakti is an afterthought appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Giriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.11.

“We want to re-establish our relationship with Krishna. The way you show an interest in establishing a relationship with anyone is by spending time with the person. So when you spend time chanting japa, even if you are struggling, Krishna sees. ‘Oh, this person is trying to revive his or her relationship with Me.’ So He is pleased that you are making that effort and He will help you in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time. We have to be patient. He may help us one day or he may help us the next day. But we have to be patient, persevere and be confident of success in the end. But, the false ego wants to take the place of Krishna. The mind is by habit the agent of the false ego. So when we try to focus the mind on Krishna the false ego reacts, ‘Why Krishna? Why not me?’ But, the whole thing is like a false construction—it doesn’t have any reality. The false ego can seem so huge and so powerful—like there is no way to get free from it. But, if you just stick to chanting—and reading—you will see it is just like a joke. It is a big show but there is really no substance to it.”

Kirtan, Alachua
Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.11, Alachua

I USED TO BE WORKSHOP JUNKIE BECAUSE I NEVER BELIEVED I WAS ENOUGH TO DO WHAT I AM HERE TO DO: While I do recommend being educated in one's chosen field or calling in life, there are many ways to obtain this education. It may be through formal schooling or be driven by one's intense purpose in life and learned from life experience and "hacking" an education from books and mentors. Personally, although I would have liked to have training as a counselor, I wasn't able to travel his route and mainly learned by studying alternative healing methods like in Reiki, prayer, and Hypnotherapy.

Still, I have never actually earned my living through those practices. I never believed I was sufficiently trained, or more deeply, that I was "enough" to say I was a this or that. I always wanted to 'be somebody" (like all those successful people) who could help others, and have been praying as intensely and sincerely as I can for years, even as I have endeavored to do this through my writing--and as I have heard, with some success...

Now, Krishna has given me a new identity and label, which has empowered me to have a vision of how to connect and help others--having a cancer diagnosis and being "near death" has helped me more than I could ever imagine. Somehow the idea of having a limited amount of time left to live, has pushed me to do what I pray for now, as I can no longer wait to "be enough," realizing that this day will never come, if I listen to the ego's self doubt and discouraging words.

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Vapu or Vani?
Question: We often hear in lectures that Vani is more important than Vapu. Vani means instructions of the spiritual master. Vapu means physical presence of the spiritual master. My next question is we happen see the some devotees get very very good association of the spiritual master or some devotees he also inhibition and try away from talking or revealing their mind to the spiritual master and just contented to hear lectures or have darshan who is right and lucky? How should the second set of devotees be? How should they rectify themselves?
Radhanath Swami: Srila Prabhupada was in his second meeting with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. It was during the Varaja Mandal Parikrama. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was in Koshi and it was advertised that he would be giving a lecture and there was also a Parikrama going to holy place called Seshsayee. So most of the devotees went to Seshsayee but Srila Prabhupada was thinking that what will I learn at Seshsayee? All the holy places are at the lotus feet of my Gurudev. So he sat and so many people were asking questions and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati was lecturing on so many various topics of devotional service and Srila Prabhupada silently sat and listened attentively and submissively. He didn’t say anything. People were coming and people were going he was speaking from many many hours but Srila Prabhupada just sat and with an open heart and open ears just absorb what his Gurudev was saying. He said nothing to his guru, he just listened. Next day Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati left and Srila Prabhupada also left. Sometime after that at the Gaudia Matha in Allahabad, Srila Prabhupada had a business in Allahabad at that time. He was in the Grihastha Ashrama. He visited the Gaudiya Matha and one brahmachari I believe his name was Atulananda. He said that Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati is coming to give initiation and he recommended Srila Prabhupada’s name for initiation. That time his name was Abhaycharan. And he only sat in the presence of his guru twice. When Bhakti Siddhanta saw him he said yes I have noted that this young man he likes to hear. He does not go away. Just by sitting and listening attentively is inquiring submissively. If you have a question you ask it. If you have no question just by sitting in a room with hundred and two hundred and three hundred people if you are sitting and hearing attentively you are getting the most intimate association with your spiritual master. And who is the lucky one the person who is listening attentively because he is really getting the association with that spiritual master’s divine grace. In Srila Prabhupada’s life when he first came to America you know that Robert Nelson is actually a nice boy he was living with Prabhupada day and night. And so many other they were living with him day and night for months and months and months. But many of them never became devotees. They were asking so many questions, they were sitting next to him. They were very friendly with him. But they never became devotees and I know people who never spoke one single word to Srila Prabhupada in their whole life but in the few occasions they simply sat in a lecture with six- seven hundred people and they listened attentively and they dedicated their life to what they heard and they are the most intimate lucky devotees in all over the world. So we should know that “Krishna Consciousness is not quantitative it is qualitative”. As Nityaditya Maharaj said many of Prabhupada’s God brothers who are Sanyasis and brahmachari’s they were with Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati personally individually for years and years and years together almost constantly. Srila Prabhupada met with him only a few times rarely asked any questions but whatever Srila Prabhupada Bhakti Siddhanta spoke he heard attentively with the receptive heart and with the willingness to surrender what he heard. “If you listen attentively and you have the willingness to surrender to those instructions you are lucky.” And that’s what Srila Prabhupada appreciated most often times if devotees were doing very well he would not come to that place he said you are doing so well I don’t have to burden my time going there to try to inspire you, you are already doing so well. So we should understand that our receptivity is what will bring us the divine grace of our Guru and to our life.

Character or Capability?
Sutapa das: Scriptures are often replete with long lists of names, exalted personalities who most have never heard of, but who are nevertheless immortalised in the pages of history. In the material world people are remembered for what they do – their ground-breaking achievements, their high ranking positions of responsibility, and their impactful influence on others. In spiritual circles, however, people are remembered for who they are. In some cases these outstanding spiritualists also made a visible mark on the world, but in many cases they were quiet, simple, humble souls who went about their daily life with a deep sense of devotion, sensitivity and saintliness, their consciousness merged in transcendence. Unassuming, and often unnoticed. The value system in spiritual circles, you see, is entirely different. Character over capability.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/c0mEBr

The post Nityananda Trayodasi Abhishek appeared first on Mayapur.com.

The post Daily Darshan : February 20th, 2016 – Nityananda Trayodasi appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Kadamba Kanana Swami will give a lecture on Lord Nityananda’s Appearance Day (20 February) at the Sri Sri Radha Radhanatha temple at 11:30am (GMT +2). A livestream will be available on www.mayapur.tv on Durban channel.

HH Kadamba Kanana Swami’s health update.
Dear Vaisnavas, friends and all,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Time is like a river, it is moving along and with it, there are so many occurrences. Presently where I am, the currents are going wild and all I can do is to go along with them and keep my balance. Only days ago I was diagnosed with cancer in the rectum, the tumor has already been removed by operation. Now a second operation is due to remove the surrounding tissue. It may or may not end there, that will come out after some more time. So far it has not been found that the cancer has spread to other places in the body, let’s hope it will remain so.
Lord Krsna is the Supreme Controller and we are little controllers, in this situation there is not much for me to control, I can not steer my boat on the now wild river of time, I have to just go along with things and see what will come on the way. So far there is a realistic chance of survival, but let’s see how things will evolve. You kindly pray for me. Either in this world or the next I am in Krsna’s hands. I will let you know more as things develop.
The doctors are advising me not to have many visitors, because there will be some radiation and chemo involved, which breaks down the immune system, we can’t afford to catch something on top of this.So I will write an update from time to time.
My heart goes out to so many wonderful people that I have met everywhere, and if Krsna so desires I hope that we can meet again and spend many inspiring moments together.
Your servant
Kadamba Kanana Swami

Kula Shaker's much-loved 1996 debut album K deservedly went multi-platinum thanks to its bold and heady blend of psychedelic rock, Indian sitars and mystical Sanskrit lyrics.

Vegan products are usually relegated to a tiny section in conventional grocery stores, but Portland, Oregon will soon be home to an entire vegan supermarket.

The benefits of mindfulness meditation, increasingly popular in recent years, are supposed to be many: reduced stress and risk for various diseases, improved well-being, a rewired brain.

The Gita Champions League (GCL) is a competition based on the teachings of the ancient book of knowledge, the Bhagavad Gita. This contest was a fun, inspiring and motivating way to help everyone to absorb themselves in the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, enrich and refocus their life in the right manner. GCL was a written test primarily targeting students from Class 5 to 8. 

Bhakti-vriksha is a congregational development program that utilizes small group structures in order to encourage its members in Krishna consciousness. http://www.iskconcongregation.com/product/bhakti-vriksha-manual/

On 17th January, Artha forum organized its 5th event in Singapore held at Tanglin Club on the back of very successful events in 2013 and 2014. The conference titled “Conscious Leader” was attended by over 120 entrepreneurs, industrialists, corporate leaders and professional in yet another successful event by Artha Forum (a Not for Profit initiative dedicated to bringing relevance of Ancient Wisdom in Modern business). Bhakti Charu Swami was invited to be the keynote speaker for the event. Esteem corporate leaders from Singapore shared the dias including Vikram Rao of Crayon Data, Dr. Charles Chow – Founder and MD of East West Group, Subba Vidyanathan – MD and Regional Head of Retail Banking at SCB, Sumita Ambasata – Founder of Flowering Tree Inc. and Gowthaman Ragothaman – COO at Mindshare Asia Pacific & Global Client Lead at WPP. Other eminent business leaders present during the event were Jayesh Parekh Co-Founder of Sony Entertainment Television, Anurag Srivastava of Jungle Ventures, Chandrasekhar Pingali – Managing Director at I Cube Consortium Limited and Sanjiv Aiyar – President PAN IIM Alumni.

The event started off with the extremely insightful panel discussion where the panelist fielded relevant questions on how they practically implement Conscious leadership in their respective spheres of work. Gowthaman shared that Conscious leadership should not be left to interpretation. One has to lead by example every day, every moment so that everyone can look up at you and know what is right and ethical and what isn’t.

Dr. Chow gave a very interesting analogy of how potato, egg, coffee and frog behave differently under boiling water. They either turn soft in case of potato, hard in case of egg, grind and spread aroma in case of coffee or just adopt to boiling water in case of frog. So as a leader we need to think what we and people around us want to become given the situation.

Having been leader in Human Resource, Sumita brought out a very important point of integration of inner and outer development of an individual. She mentioned that its inner development that drives outer development; and all this starts with patient, listening and understanding the motivation that drives the individual. Corporate leaders should not be looking at individuals as resources and numbers. Subba shared his experience of having self care and to be resilient from perspective of physical, mental and emotional and to be grounded by spirituality.

Bhakti Charu Maharaj started of his keynote talk by defining Conscious Leadership as the leader who has to become conscious of their position of leading and guiding others. He mentioned that leader needs to have three qualities, which are: to have vision, to know how to motivate the followers and to facilitate. A leader is the position at which you serve and not exploit. But the state of world we see now, the leaders have resorted to exploitation more than service.

Bhakti Charu Maharaj said that we all are leaders with either a large sphere of influence or small, and as a leader we all have to answer the questions of “Where to lead?” He brought home the important message of Bhagvad gita that as a living spiritual being, we are different from matter. We need to understand the science of soul and consider this as important aspect when leading. Briefly describing the sankhaya philosophy, which extensively analyzes the material creation made of 24 elements; he said is “objective” reality which in turn is meant for the subject, which is the soul.

He mentioned that the world is probing deeply in so many other branches but we are hardly probing the science of soul and spirituality. Emphasizing the significance of vedas he said that “The wisdom of vedas are not just the matter of faith. Wisdom of the vedas are scientific probing of different subject both material and spiritual. And though the probing started from material domain but it reaches spiritual domain.”

He concluded saying that “The world today has everything in abundance but there is one acute scarcity – that is the scarcity of spiritual understanding. The scarcity of consciousness. So take this responsibility. The books are available. So take this opportunity in order to benefit yourself and in order to benefit world around you.”

The keynote talk was followed by an hour of Q&A session where both Bhakti Charu Swami and the panelist fielded interesting lineup of questions from audience which was very thoughtful and full of inquisitiveness of how to apply spirituality in one’s own life.

Picture Gallery

Recently, Ambarisa prabhu, together with the other TOVP managers, went all around the TOVP, discussing plans to be executed in the year 2016. They talked about all the different procedures and areas where work will begin, and viewed all the great achievements from 2015.

Ambarisa was very pleased with the progress of the construction and the finishing work elements like the sandstone cladding, marble work and GRC pillars. He has blessed the TOVP team for a great year ahead in the service of Srila Prabhupada.

[See image gallery at tovp.org]

The post Plans For 2016 appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

There are different incarnations or appearances of Lord Varahadev. Previously the white boar incarnation has been described. The one that is in the Bhagavatam as we receive it is the story about the red incarnation and His fight with the demon Hiranyaksha. So it is an interesting history and one that is very instructive for the devotees because it is a narrative of people feeling sorry. The history is Diti was feeling unusually lusty. She was feeling impelled to the point where she lost control of herself and she approached her husband Kasyapa at an inauspicious time for the purpose of having a child. Of course it is to be noted that it wasn't even though she was feeling lusty her intention was to have a child. So it was for procreative purposes. You could say it was dharmic nevertheless. However it was still at an improper time of the day because it was sunset and that is just when Lord Siva and his ghostly hordes become active. Continue reading "Appearance of Sri Varahadeva
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Meditation Through Sound.
Meditation is an ancient process which helps us connect to our true nature and purify the mind. There are two ways to meditate; either through silent meditation or sound meditation. The struggle with silent meditation is that it might work for some time, but eventually the noisy mind will come back and begin chatting again. The mind’s duty is meant to always think, so you can not stop it’s function. Better to engage the mind in higher consciousness, which can be done through the power of sound mantras.
To read the entire article click here: http://tattvadarsi.com/2016/01/31/meditation-through-sound/

The two brothers went to the village called Mayuresvara, which was the village of Their maternal grand-father. Close to the village there was a jungle. Once, when these two brothers were about to enter that jungle, two villagers debarred Them, “Hey, don’t go to that jungle. There is a very big poisonous snake that devours everyone who goes there. No one returns. Please don’t go.” Nityananda Prabhu did not listen to them and They both entered that jungle. That big poisonous snake was staying under a tamala tree, and as soon as these two brothers entered the jungle it came out, raising his hood and hissing. Nityananda Prabhu was not afraid at all, rather He raised His hand and said, “Eh! Oh, wicked fellow! Dunta, stay there! Stay there! Don’t come forward!” The snake stopped. “Why are you killing and devouring innocent people?” Nityananda Prabhu is Nagaraja, the king of all snakes, Anantadev Naga, so when He told the snake to stop, he stopped. Then He continued and asked, “Why are you doing this?” Then the snake related his history from Dvapara-yuga. Continue reading "Lord Nityananda Trayodasi
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6 Tips for Bhakti-vriksha (3 min video)
Bhakti-vriksha is a congregational development program that utilizes small group structures in order to encourage its members in Krishna consciousness. Here we present six tips for hosting a Bhakti-vriksha program.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/UgfiiW

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 12, No. 1.
Krishna-kripa das: I share many insights from Srila Prabhupada’s books and lectures. I include a beautiful poem about the holy name by Bhaktivinoda Thakura called Sri Nama Mahatmya. I share an excerpt about the public chanting of the holy name from the daily journal of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I include notes on interesting lectures by Amala Bhakti Swami. There are notes on a recorded lecture by Radhanath Swami. Many nice realizations from Madhava Prabhu from New Raman Reti, speaking in Gainesville and Deva Madhava Prabhu, who runs a Krishna House near Ann Arbor, speaking at the Harinam Ashram in New York City. I also include realizations from newer devotees in Gainesville and Jacksonville.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/iSG7EA

February 19. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Meditating on Prabhupada’s Eternal Form.
Usually I favor meditating on Prabhupada as we knew him. As an expression of loyalty, I almost scoff at the possibility of Prabhupada having a form other than how he appeared in the West in 1965. But I know he does. Still, we prefer to think of Prabhupada as we knew him, and anyway, we really can’t know Prabhupada in any other form. At least not now.
Lately, I am coming to understand that it is possible for a disciple to know his eternal relationship with his spiritual master in the spiritual world. It is possible to meditate on that eternal relationship. This no longer seems scandalous to my loyalty if I think like that.
Now I want to pray that the other form is revealed. I cannot imagine it or concoct it, but I hope one day Srila Prabhupada will reveal how I can be with him as he assists Radha-Krishna in the spiritual world. Just as we sing every morning, nikunja-yuno rati-keli-siddhyai. Shri-radhika-madhavayor apara-madhurya-lila-guna-rupa-nammam / prati-kshanasvadana-lolupasya / vande guroh shri-charanaravindam. These two verses are meaningful. I pray that I may one day realize them.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=5

2016-02-15 Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 07.01.33-34 by HH Krishna Kshetra Swami at ISKCON Mayapur

With ISKCON’s 50^th anniversary year now here, ISKCON devotees all over the world are getting inspired to bring their communities together and celebrate in creative ways. At the temple in Potomac, a suburb of Washington D.C., for example, community members are holding their first 50-hour kirtan.

Meditating on Prabhupada’s Eternal Form

The post Daily Darshan : February 19th, 2016 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

This is a response to the video "She can become guru" for all those who want to know the arguments from both sides.

Is Guru “as Good as” Śāstra?

If we observe the various spiritual and religious groups in Indian history we see that they can be grouped in two categories: pantha and paramparā. The difference between them is that a pantha is based on the teachings of a guru, but a paramparā is based on the teachings of śāstra – which is disseminated through gurus.

A pantha is based on the teachings of a guru, but a paramparā is based on the teachings of śāstra.

Both have gurus. The difference is that the pantha’s guru is the origin of their philosophy, but in a paramparā the guru is the teacher, preserver, and maintainer of the a specific understanding and interpretation of śāstra established by the founders of the paramparā.

It may seem that pantha gurus are more inventive and innovative than paramparā gurus, but this is not necessarily true. Paramparā gurus are more than preservers or  “refrigerators” of ancient ideas. They must be extremely innovative and inventive to keep the ancient truth of śāstra alive and relevant to modern situations, points of view, advances of information, and so on. Thus, the difference between the pantha and paramparā is not really that one is liberal and inventive while the other is conservative and insular. The real difference is that a pantha does not have full support from the ancient wisdom of Vedic śāstra, while the paramparā does.

The difference between the pantha and paramparā is not really that one is more liberal and inventive than the other. The real difference is that a pantha does not have full support from the ancient wisdom of Vedic śāstra, while the paramparā does.

One might think that gurus are not essential in a paramparā, since anyone can go and read the śāstra for themselves. This is not true. The śāstra is very mysterious and confusing, because it deals with very sophisticated and deep subjects. A paramparā represents a very beautiful, sophisticated, and harmonious interpretation of śāstra resulting from millennia of philosophical and spiritual endeavor by dozens of great persons in previous paramparās. If we start from scratch and read śāstra without the guidance of paramparā gurus, it is extremely unlikely that we would arrive at an understanding with the same depth and broadness.

If we start from scratch and read śāstra without the guidance of paramparā gurus, it is extremely unlikely that we would arrive at an understanding with the same depth and broadness.

Thus, gurus are as essential in a paramparā as they are in a pantha, and they are also as creative and modern. Again, the only real difference is that the pantha guru doesn’t align with the ancient wisdom of śāstra, while the paramparā guru does.

If guru is our ultimate authority, we belong to a pantha. If śāstra is our ultimate authority, we belong to a paramparā.

Members of a pantha and members of a paramparā both consider the words of a guru to be “as good as śāstra,” but they have very different reasons for feeling this way. In a pantha, members feel there is no need for śāstra, because the guru’s word is everything. To them, the guru’s word is “śāstra.” In a paramparā, however, members feel that the guru’s words are “as good as śāstra” because their guru does not say anything that is not clearly and demonstrably supported by śāstra.

In a pantha, members feel there is no need for śāstra, because the guru’s word is everything. To them, the guru’s word is “śāstra.”

Buddha underscores how important the śāstra is to paramparā. All Vaiṣṇava paramparā accept him as an avatāra of Viṣṇu himself, and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam states this explicitly, yet Vaiṣṇavas do not follow do not follow his teachings (except coincidentally, where they  happen to be harmonious with  śāstra), because he rejected the Veda. This demonstrates that paramparā will reject any guru, even an avatāra of Viṣṇu himself, if his or her teachings are not based directly on the śāstra.

Paramparā will reject any guru, even an avatāra of Viṣṇu himself, if his or her teachings are not based directly on the śāstra.

The Buddhist lineage is a pantha, not a paramparā. Guru Nanak’s Sikhism is another, more recent example of a pantha.

Pantha vs. Paramparā, Round One!

So… Which is superior, a pantha or a paramparā?

Common sense suggests that the paramparā is superior – because it more fully avails of all the philosophical and spiritual effort humanity has made over thousands of years, and it much more fully avails itself of the ancient records of wisdom, the Veda.

Of course, Vedic śāstra concurs:

“Knowledge is born from Śāstra.”

— Vedānta Sūtra 1.1.3

“Logic and argument alone cannot conclusively prove or disprove things.”

— Vedānta Sūtra 2.1.11

“Śruti [Śāstra] is the ultimate root of the veracity of all  concepts.”

— Vedānta Sūtra 2.1.27

“The Veda is the only eye through which anyone – human, ancestor, or god – can see the Supreme and come to understand the ultimate objective and means.”

— Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.20.4

“Debate cannot determine things that are beyond comprehension.”

— Mahābhārata Bhīṣma.5.22

Paramparā is superior, but it runs the risk of degrading into a pantha if it allows its gurus to reach conclusions that are significantly different from the interpretations of śāstra established by the founders of that paramparā. It also runs the risk of becoming a pantha if it allows its disciples to over-extend the concept that “guru is as good as śāstra,” and thus never take the trouble to understand the guru’s words in context of the śāstric conclusions established by the paramparā founders.

Paramparā runs the risk of degrading into a pantha if it allows its disciples to over-extend the concept that “guru is as good as śāstra,” and thus never take the trouble to understand the guru’s words in context of the śāstric conclusions established by the paramparā founders.

The gurus of a paramparā must guard against this by teaching their disciples the importance of śāstra, and directly teaching the interpretation of śāstra established by the paramparā founders. Not every disciple is intellectually equipped to fully comprehend and represent the paramparā but this does not negate the duty for the guru to find and educate disciples who are. It is also important that gurus dissuade those who are not thoroughly educated or intellectually capable from involving themselves in debates over the conclusions embraced by their paramparā, for this will only ruin those disciples by making them partisan, and thus aparādhic at heart, and will only fill the ether with confusion about the paramparā’s conclusions. This is a particularly urgent concern in the internet age, where anyone at all can find an audience.

Vraja Kishor dās

www.vrajakishor.com