Actual Love Can Only Be With Krishna (3 min. video)
Learning From HH Bhakti Charu Swami

Different Schools of Philosophy, ISKCON Sydney Temple

Figuratively the queen is supposed to be the disciple of the king; thus when the mortal body of the spiritual master expires, his disciples should cry exactly as the queen cries when the king leaves his body.

For the first time Gauranga Garden planted rice. It was a bit of a festival. Jolly and happy mood all around. The rice came into the earth and other plants got planted as well. But next day Cyclone Amphan hit Mayapur hard.

GM began the book some years ago, after he began the second volume of the Varnasrama Compendium. But then, as a result of his personal reading of Brhad-bhagavatamrta, with permission from the Varnasrama Dharma Committee in Hungary he took a few months off to write a book then called Sadhana-sara-dipika (which is now Sankalpa-kaumudi). But he stopped and started a few times, mostly due to the new Outreach preaching that he began through his vlogs. Last year on the Lal Publishing conference that we all communicate through, GM asked, “When was my last book published?” Within seconds, Manjari replied, “2016, Sri Damodara-janani.” GM replied, “I haven’t written a book since then?? Hare Krsna, I’ve wasted three years of my life …”

It is with deep sadness and sorrow that we heard of the loss of the Spiritual Global leader and Senior Member of ISKCON & GBC, HH Sri Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj. We offer our deepest heartfelt condolences to the devotees of H.H Sri Swamiji Maharaj and the ISKCON family worldwide.

Shyamananda Das is a mentor, life coach, inspirational speaker, and a practicing monk for over 3 decades. MBA by education and well-known for his work to bring mindfulness into the mainstream of society. He is serving as a translator in one of the largest vedic-wisdom publishing house in the world and a current editor of the Indian edition of English language monthly magazine.

I am very happy to hear about your preaching engagements. The Glastonbury music festival seems like a wonderful way to attract people to Krishna consciousness. During the early days when I was able to spend more time in England, I used to go to that festival. I remember going there twice. The youth those days used to be more open and receptive, and we used to have a good time there, preaching

In August 1965, Srila Prabhupada, under the instruction of his spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, traveled with a mission to share the timeless wisdom of Krishna consciousness with the Western world. Srila Prabhupada sailed from Calcutta, India to New York city aboard a cargo ship, with a mere seven dollars in Indian rupees and his translations of sacred Vedic texts.

“One day I became aware of the door being opened, and I turned to see Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet walking into that closet room. . . . He placed his hand on my head and inquired, ‘Yamuna? How are you doing?’ Firstly I said, ‘I am always thinking of you, Srila Prabhupada.’ Then I explained my symptoms, and he said, ‘I think this is jaundice . . . Now I will take charge of your recovery. You will never get well in these conditions on the floor.’ Continue reading "Srila Prabhupada as the Personification of Devotee Care
→ Dandavats"

When I heard the news of Maharaja having tested positive for COVID-19, I was left speechless. Daily at that time of the morning I am on a zoom Japa conference. I made the announcement to the participants in much disbelief. I checked again with my disciples if this message was in fact authentic and a part of me feverishly hoped that there was some error or this was just fake news. I could not concentrate on any of my services and had difficulty in following the daily routine for the rest of the day and several days thereafter. I was very disturbed and disheartened. All that I could think of was Bhakti Caru Maharaja and went deeply into thoughts and prayers for his recovery. Continue reading "A message for the disciples of HH Bhakti Charu Swami
→ Dandavats"

Toronto, Ontario

Night Mopping

I was on the phone with Jaya Govinda from Vancouver who said he was taking a break from the wet weather. “I went more inland to see some sun.“

“We have plenty here (referring more to the east). We have too much where we are and it’s a constant 30° Celsius/86° Fahrenheit, with plenty of humidity. I hope you will see Surya soon,“ I encouraged.

Not but two hours later, clouds rolled into the sky in Toronto. The wind and showers were awesome. I could see the upper parts of trees dancing. They reminded me of Chaitanya and his monk associates in dance.

But it didn’t last long. The sun pierced through and there was no relief in sight on that sweaty walk. The low, temperature-wise, would stay at the 29°C level. 

“I’m not going out,” I decided. I’ll do some cardio exercise by indoor mopping in the place of outdoor sweating. It was rewarding getting the temple hall clean, as well as the ashram on the bottom floor. It makes my heart feel clean. I get a sense of accomplishment from this, as well as a kind of work out. It’s especially gratifying to get in the corners.

When our guru, Prabhupada, passed away back in ’77, I recall responding to the news by getting behind the mop and going for a real cleansing, also within. It dealt with my sorrow, appeasing it somehow.

I’m still trying to come to terms with the departure of monk, Bhakti Caru Swami. Cleaning helps. Chanting helps.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCY2iUBAUli/?igshid=1n1uas3ggiwuz

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCbaeKyAnnQ/?igshid=102u26lsjjnjd

May the Source be with you!

0 km

Podcast

Video:

The post Gita key verses course 28 Why is life so tough If God loves us, why doesn’t he make our life easier – Gita 08.15 appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Shri Gopal Bhatta Goswami, one of the six Goswamis of Vrindavan, was born in 1503 on the 13th day of the dark moon in the month of Pausha. Gopal Bhatta Goswami lived for 75 years and left this world to enter into the eternal pastimes of the Lord in 1578.  

Gopal Bhatta Goswami was the son of Vyenkatta Bhatta, a brahmana resident of Shri Rangam in South India, who was initiated in the Shri Sampradaya tradition, in the disciplic succession of Shri Ramanujacharya.    

Shri Vyenkatta Bhatta had a famous brother named Shri Prabodhananda Saraswati. The son of Vyenkatta Bhatta was later known in the Gaudiya Sampradaya as Gopal Bhatta Goswami and he established the Radha-Ramana Temple in Vrindavan.

In 1511, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed at the house of Vyenkatta Bhatta. At the time of Mahaprabhu’s visit, Gopal was only a child. When the little boy offered his respects at the feet of Shri Chaitanya, the Lord picked him up and held him on His lap and affectionately embraced the boy.

Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to call the child and give him the remnants of His Prasad. By giving him His Prasad in this manner, He blessed Gopal Bhatta Acharya to become a great devotee in the future.

After he had been blessed by having darshan of the lotus feet of Shri Gauranga, Gopal Bhatta Goswami’s mind was always absorbed in thoughts of the Lord’s lotus feet. He began thinking, “When will I again obtain a vision of the Lord?” In this way, the years passed.

Eventually his aged mother and father called Gopal Bhatta to their side and said, “Boy, after we pass away, you must go to Vrindavan and take shelter of the lotus feet of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.” After his parents’ demise, Gopal Bhatta went to Vrindavan, always remembering the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu.

  In the Gaura-Gandodesha-Dipika, Shri Kavi Karnapura Goswami writes: 

ananga-manjari sadya Gopal Bhattkah Bhatt goswaminam kocidahuh shri guna manjari    

“In my opinion, that person who in Vrindavan Lila was Ananga Manjari is now Gopal Bhatta Goswami. Some authorities, however, have given their opinion that he was Guna Manjari.”

For Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day, I thought to read one verse and purport about him from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten, “The Branches of the Caitanya Tree”:

TEXT 105

sri gopala bhatta eka sakha sarvottama
rupa-sanatana-sange yanra prema-alapana

TRANSLATION

Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches of the tree. He always engaged in discourses about love of Godhead in the company of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was the son of Venkata Bhatta, a resident of Sri Rangam. Gopala Bhatta formerly belonged to the disciplic succession or the Ramanuja-sampradaya but later became part of the Gaudiya-sampradaya.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

The word sampradaya means “party.”

PURPORT (continued)

In the year 1433 Sakabda (A.D. 1511), when Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was touring South India, He stayed for four months during the period of Caturmasya at the house of Venkata Bhatta, who then got the opportunity to serve the Lord to his heart’s content. Gopala Bhatta also got the opportunity to serve the Lord at this time. Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was later initiated by his uncle, the great sannyasi Prabodhananda Sarasvati. Both the father and the mother of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami were extremely fortunate, for they dedicated their entire lives to the service of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They allowed Gopala Bhatta Gosvami to go to Vrndavana, and they gave up their lives thinking of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When Lord Caitanya was later informed that Gopala Bhatta Gosvami had gone to Vrndavana and met Sri Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami, He was very pleased, and He advised Sri Rupa and Sanatana to accept Gopala Bhatta Gosvami as their younger brother and take care of him. Sri Sanatana Gosvami, out of his great affection for Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, compiled the Vaisnava smrti named Hari-bhakti-vilasa and published it under his name. Under the instruction of Srila Rupa and Sanatana, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami installed one of the seven principal deities of Vrndavana, the Radha-ramana deity. The sevaits (priests) of the Radha-ramana temple belong to the Gaudiya-sampradaya.

COMMENT

Actually, one of the families entrusted with the Deity service at the Radha-ramana temple has a history of relations with the line of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. Visvambhara Gosvami’s father or grandfather had relations with Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the family maintained relations with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and then Visvambhara Gosvami had very friendly relations with Srila Prabhupada. And he spoke very nicely about Srila Prabhupada. Now Visvambhara Gosvami’s son Padmanabha Gosvami is also very favorable to ISKCON. In fact, ISKCON devotees often honor prasada at his home at the Radha-ramana temple. I also took prasada there with His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, and Padmanabha Gosvami showed us a letter that Srila Prabhupada had written to his father, Visvambhara Gosvami, about how all Vaishnavas should cooperate. So, not only does the Radha-ramana temple belong to the Gaudiya-sampradaya, but at least some of the sevaits have had close relations with the line of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

PURPORT (concluded)

When Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami took permission from all the Vaisnavas before writing Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami also gave him his blessings, but he requested him not to mention his name in the book. Therefore Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami has mentioned Gopala Bhatta Gosvami only very cautiously in one or two passages of the Caitanya-caritamrta. Srila Jiva Gosvami has written in the beginning of his Tattva-sandarbha, “A devotee from southern India who was born of a brahmana family and was a very intimate friend of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami has written a book that he has not compiled chronologically. Therefore I, a tiny living entity known as jiva, am trying to assort the events of the book chronologically, consulting the direction of great personalities like Madhvacarya, Sridhara Svami, Ramanujacarya, and other senior Vaisnavas in the disciplic succession.” In the beginning of the Bhagavat-sandarbha there are similar statements by Srila Jiva Gosvami. Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami compiled a book called Sat-kriya-sara-dipika, edited the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, wrote a foreword to the Sat-sandarbha and a commentary on the Krsna-karnamrta, and installed the Radharamana Deity in Vrndavana. In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (184) it is mentioned that his previous name in the pastimes of Lord Krsna was Ananga-manjari. Sometimes he is also said to have been an incarnation of Guna-manjari. Srinivasa Acarya and Gopinatha Pujari were two of his disciples.

COMMENT

Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami ki jaya!

One story about Gopala Bhatta Gosvami is that on the eve of Nrsimha-caturdasi all the other Gosvamis and Vaishnavas in Vrindavan were preparing to worship their deities and hold festivals. Gopala Bhatta Gosvami had only a salagrama-sila; he didn’t have a deity with form, with arms and legs, a body he could dress and decorate. So he was feeling deprived of the opportunity to serve his deity like the other devotees who had deities with forms. Out of his strong desire, a salagrama-sila manifest in the form of Radha-ramana. Radha-ramana is considered the most beautiful deity of Krishna. It is the one original deity of the Gosvamis that has remained in Vrindavan, while the others had to be taken elsewhere for fear of the Muslim invaders. And near the temple of Radha-ramana in Vrindavan is the samadhi of Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami.

Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s uncle and siksa-guru was Prabodhananda Sarasvati. His samadhi is also located in Vrindavan, just off the parikrama path near Kaliya-ghata, which is quite near our Krishna-Balaram temple. Often when we go on parikrama down the path near the Yamuna, we visit Prabodhananda Sarasvati’s samadhi and bhajana-kutira. Then we proceed to Srila Sanatana Gosvami’s samadhi. Sanatana Gosvami was the most senior of the Gosvamis and was also a close associate and instructor of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. In fact, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami worked with Sanatana Gosvami to produce the great treatise Hari-bhakti-vilasa.

I feel that Gopala Bhatta Gosvami has been especially merciful to me on two occasions. On one, I visited his bhajana-kutira at Sanketa, a place between Nandagrama and Varsana where Radha and Krishna used to meet and sometimes perform rasa-lila. Gopala Bhatta would sit and chant underground in a deep cavern accessible only through a long, narrow passage. At the end of the passage was a somewhat roomier place where Gopala Bhatta used to chant, now marked as his bhajana-sthala. I remember going there with Tamal Krishna Goswami and others on a very hot day and struggling to crawl through the passage to the bhajana-sthala. It was difficult, but when I finally reached there, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was very merciful. He allowed me to chant with a glimpse of taste. And after all the devotees emerged from the cavern, I stole back in. I crawled back to Gopala Bhatta’s lotus feet and sat there chanting. I will never forget his mercy to me there, and I pray that he will enable me to chant with relish and love.

On the other occasion, during Kartik of 1999, shortly before my surgery, I visited Gopala Bhatta’s samadhi near the Radha-ramana temple in Vrindavan. We arrived just after raja-bhoga-arati, and the pujari was closing the doors to the samadhi-mandira. But he was kind enough to open the doors for us, to allow us darshan of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. He gave us some flowers and caranamrta and invited us to stay for prasada. Thus our small party, along with some local sadhus, honored Gopala Bhatta Prabhu’s maha-maha-prasada with great relish, and we even stayed to take a little rest before, filled with bliss, we continued on our way. So, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami is very kind.

 Years later, when some of my disciples from Bombay went to Vrindavan on pilgrimage, they visited the samadhi of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. They told the pujaris about me, how my health no longer allowed me to visit Vraja, and asked for some prasada for me. And the priest kindly gave them a piece of cloth from Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s samadhi. It is very special. Now, twice a year, on his appearance day and on his disappearance day, we bring it out and touch it. So now we shall pass it around and touch it to our heads and to our hearts—and pray to Gopala Bhatta Gosvami for his sublime mercy.

Thank you.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day July 31, 2002, Carpinteria, California]

  There is a great verse in the Bhagavad-gita that speaks to balance. “He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.” [Ch.6.17] And we know from practical experience that when things are out of balance they don’t function well – […]

The post Life out of Balance appeared first on ISKCON News.

The current Covid-19 has brought collective pain, fear, and unexpected difficulties. We have to ask – what is out of balance?

GBC Strategic Planning Team is set to host a six-day series of Facebook Live events celebrating ISKCON Incorporation Day from July 10^th to 15^th.  The theme of the events will be “Reaffirming the Seven Purposes of ISKCON.”

“One should engage oneself in the practice of yoga with undeviating determination and faith. One should abandon, without exception, all material desires born of false ego and thus control all the senses on all sides by the mind.” (Bhagavad Gita 6.24) The term “kama” in this verse is fascinating, defined here as “material desires born […]

The post The You You Don’t Like – People As Products Of History And The Yogic Remedy appeared first on ISKCON News.

The capitalist definition of God’s will for humanity was to pursue piety within productivity. After all, had recent discoveries not proven that God’s plan was for the pious to become wealthy?

Giriraj Swami in an interview with Gauranga Das from the ISKCON GBC Strategic Planning Team on “Devotee Care”.

For over two weeks, devotees all over the world prayed very intensly for the recovery of Bhakti Charu Swami. He passed away on July 4th, 2020. How to carry on in one's spirirual life when the Lord doesn't seem to listen to one's prayers?

  It’s hard to fathom, That it could be so, But warriors do enter, And charge into battle, And may not return— A matter of death and dignity. Because of the love lost, It becomes a tearful time. With the voice of guidance now gone, An apparent vacuum exists. Something went wrong perhaps. Loved ones […]

The post Warrior Saint: A Poem in Dedication to Bhakti Charu Swami appeared first on ISKCON News.

Bhakti Charu Swami.

A video by Real You.

In the first podcast of the newly launched Engaged Bhakti series Krishna Kishor Das (Christopher Fici) talks to Yogesvara Dasa (Joshua M. Greene).

Mayapur TV.

Husband and wife Radhe Radhe Devi Dasi and Nandanandana Das, second generation devotees and disciples of Bir Krishna Goswami, are running a series of online kirtan festivals to bring devotees around the world together during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Covad-19 Crisis - ISKCON Food For Life Distribution from Worldwide Donations during the Pandemic