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“All the circumstances surrounding her departure were auspicious: She left on the same tithi (date) as Tamal Krishna Goswami—which was the same tithi as Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji’s disappearance—and at the same time of day. And when she was brought outside, there were so many auspicious signs. For example, a gentle rain began, and a rainbow appeared in the sky. So many auspicious signs, one after the other. If someone had made a movie of it, I would have thought it was too contrived: ‘Do you expect us to believe that all these auspicious signs could really be there? Maybe one or two, but not so many.’ I think it is quite clear that both Vidura das and Manjari dasi went back to Godhead.”
—Giriraj Swami
Naikatma das
Nirantara das
Giriraj Swami
Krishna Prema das
Rupanuga das
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 28 July 2013, Radhadesh, Belgium, Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya-lila 22.26)
Question: In the pastime where Lord Caitanya was saying to Advaita Acarya that he has won over Advaita because he was seeing the Deity constantly and Advaita Acarya was not (as Advaita was turning his back while circumambulating the Deity of Jagannatha), there is also an instruction from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur that we come to the temple not to see the Deity but to be seen by the Deity. How do we reconcile this?
I think that all these statements are true. We come to be seen by the Deity; in other words, it is more important that we come in a mood of looking for mercy and not in the mood of trying to enjoy the Lord, “I enjoy looking at Krsna so much!” Of course, the enjoyment comes naturally but the focus should not be I am coming to enjoy the Lord but I am coming to beg.
“I am a poor man, I have nothing,” as Narottam das Thakur says, “I am just a beggar who is coming here to beg for the mercy of the Lord.” So the statement of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta can be seen in the light of this mood of Narottam, of going as a beggar.
The statement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is in line with the experience of Gopa Kumar who travelled throughout the universe and came to Tapo Loka, the residence of the four Kumaras. That place was full of sages and they were all meditating. Then Gopa Kumar expressed his desire to see the Lord but the sages said, ‘Why do you want to see the Lord? Seeing is actually something that takes place in the mind. The eye is just catching the image, sending the signal to the mind and so on… So, seeing is really happening in the mind. So just meditate! Why you want to see?’
But Gopa Kumar could not explain it, he said that somehow or other, he was not satisfied. He still wanted to see the Lord. It is said that when the devotee becomes self realized, then all his senses become awakened. Just like when Narada Muni became self realized, all his senses were simultaneously awakened: he was seeing the Lord, he was smelling the scent of the Lord’s lotus feet and the incense… all his senses were perceiving the Lord simultaneously and each of his senses was competing with the other for prominence in his consciousness! The ecstatic smell was overwhelming him, the ecstatic sound of the conchshell just made him forget everything and yet the sight of the Lord overtook his mind.
Therefore, we understand that the vaisnavas in the liberated state, do want to see the Lord. In the conditioned state, when we approach the Lord, that statement of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta applies – it is important that we focus more on the Lord seeing us than us seeing the Lord, “Oh, I am looking at Krsna, oh how nice is Krsna!”
No! Krsna is looking at me and what is he seeing? He is seeing a fallen, conditioned soul; he is seeing a sinner – what I am doing about it? He is seeing a beggar. But in the liberated state, we want to drink in more and more about the Lord through all our senses. Therefore, the statement of Lord Caitanya from Caitanya Bhagavata is speaking about the liberated state.
I reviewed the Sunday papers on the BBC this morning.
It’s at roughly 1hour 49mins
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Srila Prabhupada inherited the mission to distribute books on Krishna consciousness from his spiritual master, and passed it on to his disciples. Srila Prabhupada gave his full blessings to disciples who accepted the mission to distribute the books he translated. Read more › 
Director of Food for Life and “food yogi”, Priyavrata das, Paul Rodney Turner was the special guest cook on Healthy You TV last week on FPA Channel 10 in Virginia. He made spicey potato parathas, raw mango/goji berry chutney and a raw vegan peppermint, chocolate chip ice cream. Read more › 
The Hague is the seat of government in the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. “Of the nine processes of devotional service, the most important is to always chant the holy name of the Lord. If one does so, avoiding the ten kinds of offenses, one very easily obtains the most valuable love of Godhead.” CC Antya 4.71 Read more › Sacinandana Swami Sadhu Sanga retreat 2014 SB class part 2
Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasapuja Celebration on Govindaji Hill, New Vrindaban Sept 1972
Srila Prabhupada Describes His Bhagavat Dharma Discourses Held in New Vrindaban – Sept 1972.
From a series of letters written by Srila Prabhupada outlining his vision for New Vrindaban.
Thanks to Vanipedia for the source material.
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Denver, Colorado
My dear Radha Damodara,
Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letter dated August 25, 1972, and I appreciate very much for your kind sentiments. Yes, the Bhagavata Dharma discourses here in New Vrindaban are going on very nicely and daily several hundred devotees and guests are coming to hear, and it is truly a wonderful time.
I am glad to hear the nice report about St. Louis temple, and also that you are training yourself up nicely to be a serious preacher of this Krishna Consciousness movement. That much is wanted, sincere men who will become very strong for preaching work throughout the world, on behalf of Krishna. Now you apply yourself to this task very seriously and become learned in all the aspects of our Krishna Consciousness philosophy and take this opportunity in this lifetime to go back to Home, back to Godhead. That is my request.
I have not yet seen the Devotee Sketch-book #2, but I shall see it when I again return to Los Angeles.
Hoping this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
ACBS:sda
This talk is a part of the "Fascinating Mahabharata Characters" series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 18 April 2014, Durban, South Africa, Lecture: The glories of the holy name)
Krsna’s beauty is stunning! It is said that those devotees who look at Krsna, they gradually become stunned! I am worshipping Krsna in the form of Giriraja Govardhan. It is said that Govardhan Hill is non-different from Krsna. Somehow or other, my Giriraja is really nice, extremely nice. He really is very beautiful! Look on the internet if you want to see Him.
Srila Prabhupada said that if we worship the deity of Krsna then we must try to decorate that deity very nicely and if you do so, then you will lose all your taste for worldly beauty. So I am trying to do so and I must say that indeed there is a lot of taste! Such kind of taste is the awakening of spontaneous service.
"Even if one distributes ten million cows in charity during an eclipse of the sun, lives at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna for millions of years, or gives a mountain of gold in sacrifice to the brahmanas, he does not earn one hundredth part of the merit derived from chanting Hare Krishna." Read more › 
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