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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 Gosvami was the son of Venkata Bhatta, a resident of Sri Rangam. Gopala Bhatta formerly belonged to the disciplic succession of 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 (continued)
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-mandir. 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 Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day, July 31, 2002, Carpinteria, California]
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, Continue reading "Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s Disappearance Day
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In 1902 Srila Prabhupada personally organised the first Iskcon Rathayatra Festival, in Calcutta, he was eight years old .
“Like the festival at Puri, Abhay’s Ratha-yatra ran for eight consecutive days. His family members gathered, and the neighborhood children joined in a procession, pulling the cart, playing drums and hand cymbals, and chanting. Wearing a dhoti and no shirt in the heat of summer, Abhay led the children in chanting Hare Krsna and in singing the appropriate Bengali bhajana, Ki kara rai kamalini.
What are you doing, Srimati Radharani?
Please come out and see.
They are stealing Your dearmost treasure—
Krsna, the black gem.
If the young girl only knew!
The young boy Krsna,
Treasure of Her heart,
Is now forsaking Her.”
We started the first Scandinavian Rathayatra in Stockholm in 1996 , as part of Srila Prabhupada’s Centennial celebration. And this year we see how it has expanded over the years attracting more and more devotees to joyfully come to celebrate this glorious event.
Rathayatra is the festival that brings us devotees together, we see our old friends. Lord Jagannath is very very merciful.
And this year Manorama prabhu brought the biggest international gurukuli group ever, about 50 wonderful young talanted vaisnavas.
Enjoy the video, complied by Rukmini Ramana prabhu, and see you next year, get your tent out and live the dream!
Jagannātha svāmī nayana-pathagāmī bhavatu me.
So if we want to have eternal life, full of knowledge and blissfulness, then we must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the greatest welfare activities in the human society
Your servant Parasuram das
Harinama in Argentina (Album of photos)
Srila Prabhupada: By chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, we gradually develop our eterna...
12th annual Kuching Ratha Yatra (4 min. video)
Hare Krishna. Jai Jagannatha. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
At 5.20pm we started our Ratha Yatra procession from the Kuching Riverside Waterfront. HH Bhanu Swami inaugurated the 12th annual festival in the presence of about 200 devotees and the procession for the first time is parading through the main streets of Kuching. The procession ends at the waterfront with a speech by our guest of honor YB Datuk Professor Dr. sim Kui Han (minister of local government & housing) and a spiritual address by HH Bhanu Swami Maharaja. A cultural event, Kirtan and Sarawak traditional dances,
We started the first Scandinavian Rathayatra in Stockholm in 1996, as part of Srila Prabhupada's Centennial celebration. And this year we see how it has expanded over the years attracting more and more devotees to joyfully come to celebrate this glorious event. And this year Manorama prabhu brought the biggest international gurukuli group ever, about 50 wonderful young talented vaishnavas. Continue reading "Living the Dream , Scandinavia Rathayatra Tour 2019
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Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was born in the year 1503 AD on the 13th day of the dark moon in the month of Pausa. He lived within this world for 75 years. In the 1578 AD, on the sixth day of the dark moon, he left this world behind and entered into the eternal pastimes of the Lord.
Read More...Iskcon Food For Life London: We will be getting a brand new customized electric food van! This will be the first electric van food van in the UK!
Thank you so much for your support in raising the £60,000! Without you, this would have not been possible!
Iskcon Food For Life London Mission is providing nourishing, vegetarian food for people in need, from Monday to Saturday in the UK’s capital city, London.
Ниже расположена небольшая подборка фотографий различных аспектов строительства, которые наглядно иллюстрируют продвижение отделочных работ в Храме ведического планетария.
[See image gallery at tovp.org]
Посетите ХВП: www.tovp.org
Читайте о ХВП: www.facebook.com/tovp.mayapur
Смотрите о ХВП: www.youtube.com/user/tovpinfo
Смотрите о ХВП в 360°: www.tovp360.org
Загрузите приложение ХВП для мобильного телефона: www.tovp.org/ru/announcements-ru/new-tovp-phone-app-goes-live/
Подпишитесь на новости ХВП: https://goo.gl/forms/ojJ2WcUUuqWh8bXt1
Новостная Подписка через RSS: https://tovp.org/rss2/
Купите наши сувениры: https://tovp.org/tovp-gift-store/
Поддержите ХВП: https://tovp.org/ru/donate/seva-opportunities/
The post Фотоотчет о продвижении работ – июль 2019 appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
Below is a small collection of photos from different sections of the temple illustrating the progress of our finishing work on the TOVP.
[See image gallery at tovp.org]
Visit us at: www.tovp.org
Follow us at: www.facebook.com/tovp.mayapur
Watch us at: www.youtube.com/user/tovpinfo
View us 360° at: www.tovp360.org
Phone App at: http://tovp.org/news/announcements/new-tovp-phone-app-goes-live/
Mailing List at: https://goo.gl/forms/ojJ2WcUUuqWh8bXt1
RSS News Feed at: https://tovp.org/rss2/
Buy from us at: https://tovp.org/tovp-gift-store/
Support us at: https://tovp.org/donate/seva-opportunities/
The post TOVP Progress Photo Update, July 2019 appeared first on Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.
Iskcon Indonesia Annual General Meeting (Album of photos)
Ramai Swami: The leaders from ISKCON Indonesia assembled in Denpasar...
The leaders from ISKCON Indonesia assembled in Denpasar for the annual general meeting of the society. They came from Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Lombok, and Bali where we have centres.
There were about 45 or so who attended and reports were given of the preaching activities around the country. The Rathayatra committee said there were 30 Jagannatha Rathayatra parades last year and everyone applauded in appreciation.
The event went for two days and the devotees enjoyed associating with one another and planning for the future of ISKCON in Indonesia.
Invest in rest and let yourself completely relax! Our popular Visualisation Guided Meditation Class is happening end of July. Lie down, melt in to the mat and let your thoughts and problems drift away as our meditation guide Madhupana takes you on a journey through yoga nidra consciousness.
Visualise it for yourself!
Monday 29th July 6.15pm
Enjoy delicious dinner and dessert afterwards too!
$10 at the door or book online through our website
The post Visualisation: A Guided Meditation Experience appeared first on Bhakti Lounge.
Invest in rest and let yourself completely relax! Our popular Visualisation Guided Meditation Class is happening end of July. Lie down, melt in to the mat and let your thoughts and problems drift away as our meditation guide Madhupana takes you on a journey through yoga nidra consciousness.
Visualise it for yourself!
Monday 29th July 6.15pm
Enjoy delicious dinner and dessert afterwards too!
$10 at the door or book online through our website
Invest in rest and let yourself completely relax! Our popular Visualisation Guided Meditation Class is happening end of July. Lie down, melt in to the mat and let your thoughts and problems drift away as our meditation guide Madhupana takes you on a journey through yoga nidra consciousness.
Visualise it for yourself!
Monday 29th July 6.15pm
Enjoy delicious dinner and dessert afterwards too!
$10 at the door or book online through our website
Invest in rest and let yourself completely relax! Our popular Visualisation Guided Meditation Class is happening end of July. Lie down, melt in to the mat and let your thoughts and problems drift away as our meditation guide Madhupana takes you on a journey through yoga nidra consciousness.
Visualise it for yourself!
Monday 29th July 6.15pm
Enjoy delicious dinner and dessert afterwards too!
$10 at the door or book online through our website
Beginning as simple home sessions, a program designed to teach young children the Srimad-Bhagavatam will soon be offered internationally via Zoom video conference. The resources are already being shared with parents everywhere on the lightofgodhead.com website and WhatsApp Group. Eventually, the full curriculum will be presented as a book.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 25 June 2019, New York, United States of America, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.9.20)
Duryodhana was working very hard to win people over to his side and he was successful in some cases. Some karmi leaders were coming along with their armies and they were being received very nicely. They thought that they were going to fight for Yudhisthira and Yudhisthira made all such arrangements for them, but it turned out that it was Duryodhana. So then they felt so indebted, that they instead fought on Duryodhana’s side.
He tried to do the same with Krsna. When Krsna was coming as the messenger of the Pandavas, Duryodhana arranged a wonderful palace for Him to stay. And when Krsna came, He was offered an extraordinary treatment, a wonderful palace and a great reception. Then Krsna simply said, “No, I will never stay in the house of one who is envious of the Pandavas.” He refused whatever was offered by Duryodhana. Instead, He went to stay with Vidhura, which was something that even Vidhura did not expect. Vidhura was a dasi putra – he was not really a prince in that sense. He was certainly a son of the king, but with a maidservant. And therefore, although he was treated respectfully within the kingdom, he was not in a royal position and was also considered as a sudra.
So first of all, to stay with Vidhura was considered a bit awkward and second of all, Vidhura was not prepared whatsoever. At this time, all that Vidhura could arrange to offer Krsna were bananas. Then as his wife got the bananas ready, Vidhura offered the peels instead of the bananas. He was so overwhelmed by love of God, that he was so ecstatic, “Krsna is in my house!“, that he was grabbing the peels instead of the bananas. This of course shows why Krsna chose to stay in the house of Vidhura. So in this way, we appreciate that Krsna is purchased by love.
The article " Purchased by love " was published on KKSBlog.
New Vraja Dhama, ISKCON’s 300 acre farm in Hungary, is the largest eco village in Europe. It is situated in a small village in the southernmost part of the country, 2 hours drive from Budapest. It was established in 1993 with the purpose of educating people about the values of self sufficiency, cow protection and a natural, God centered lifestyle. It's aim is to put Srila Prabhupada's motto, "Simple living and high thinking" into practice. The entire project has manifest from the heart of Sivarama Swami as an offering of love to Srila Prabhupada and the presiding deities of Sri Sri Radha Syamasundara. A video by Ananta Vrindavan.
A surf photographer, business owner and father of two is seeing more and more plastic wash ashore his beloved home beach. In a bid to discover the route of this problem he embarks on a journey of discovery to educate himself and understand more about the problem. Along the way, he discovers some alarming issues.
In Calcutta, 1971, the temple was in quite a bad state because the temple president had become preoccupied in an incense business he had started to raise funds. In the course of his absorption in the business, the devotees in the temple were being neglected. He hardly spent any time with them, and they really had no one to look after them. They were barely surviving. A strong-bodied devotee named Sudama Vipra, who had belonged to the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, was so famished that he would take the remnants of the ghee wicks that had been burned in the arati and squeeze out whatever little ghee was left, just to get a little nutrition.