Planet ISKCON

“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.”

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

In the year 1433 sakabda (A.D. 1512), 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 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 Radharamana Deity. The sevaits (priests) of the Radharamana temple belong to the Gaudiya-sampradaya.

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 forword to the Sat-sandarbha and a commentary on the Krsna-karnamrta, and installed the Radharamana Deity in Vrndavana.

In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, verse 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.”

Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi lila 10:105

For Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s appearance day, I thought to read a 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 of the Ramanuja-sampradaya but later became part of the Gaudiya-sampradaya. 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 Radharamana Deity. The sevaits (priests) of the Radharamana temple belong to the Gaudiya-sampradaya.

COMMENT

Actually, one of the families entrusted with the Deity service at the Radha-ramana Mandir 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 Mandir. When I took prasada there with His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, 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 arms and legs and a body that he could dress and decorate. So he was feeling deprived of the opportunity to serve like the other devotees who had Deities they could serve in these ways. And out of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s strong desire, a salagrama-sila became manifest in the form of Radha-ramana. Radha-ramana is considered the most beautiful Deity of Krishna. He 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, quite near our Krishna-Balaram Mandir. So, often when we go on parikrama down the path near the Yamuna, we visit Prabodhananda Sarasvati’s samadhi and bhajana-kutira. And then we proceed to Srila Sanatana Gosvami’s samadhi. Srila 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 I 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 Mandir. 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 them for us and 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 Gosvami’s maha-maha-prasadam with great relish, and we even stayed to take a little rest before we continued on our way, filled with bliss. 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. They told the pujaris about me, how my health no longer allowed me to visit Vraja, and asked for some prasada for me. And one of the pujaris kindly gave them a piece of cloth from the samadhi. It is very special. Now, twice a year, once on Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s appearance day and once 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.

[Adapted from a talk on Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day, July 31, 2002, Carpinteria, California]

 

 

 

 

By Sankirtana Das (ACBSP) The recent consecration of the new Rama Temple in Ayodhya, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, generated a flurry of articles and stories in the international media. The ceremony was met with great fanfare from Hindus around the world, although some Indian politicians and brahmins declined to attend for
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Hare Krishna Dear Temple Presidents, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. On behalf of the GBC, we extend a warm invitation to the Temple Presidents for the upcoming International Temple Presidents Meeting scheduled for 27th February 2024 at Mayapur. This sanga provides an opportunity for Temple Presidents from ISKCON temples across
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Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja was one of the internal associates of Narottama Thakura. The two of them were practically inseparable. Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja had obtained the full mercy and blessings of Srinivasa acarya. Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja’s father’s name was Ciranjiva Sena—his mother’s name was Sri Sunanda.  

At first Sri Ciranjiva Sen lived in Kumara Nagara. After he married the daughter of the poet Sri Damodara Kavi, he moved to the village of Sri Khanda. Ciranjiva Sen was a Mahabhagavata, a topmost devotee of the Lord. The devotees of Sri Khanda, headed by Narahari Sarakara Thakura all had great affection and respect for Ciranjiva.

One day Srinivasa Acharya was in Yajigrama at his own house, where many devotees had gathered to hear him lecture on Shrimad-Bhagavatam. At that time, passing by the house of Shrinivasa Acharya was Ramachandra Kaviraja the son of Ciranjiva Sen (one of Mahaprabhu’s eternal associates).  He had just been married, and he and his new bride were on their way back from the wedding. 

From a long way off, Srinivasa Acharya saw Ramachandra Kaviraja, and Ramachandra Kaviraja also saw Srinvasa Acharya from a distance. Upon seeing each other from a distance a deep mood of friendship arose within the hearts of those two eternally perfect devotees of Sri Gauranga. After seeing each other they were eager to meet one another.  

Srinivasa Acharya inquired about Ramachandra Kaviraja from the local people.  They told him that he was a great pandita named Ramachandra—a learned poet and expert doctor from a family of doctors and scholars. Hearing all this, Srinivasa acarya smiled, for he was greatly pleased. 

Ramachandra Kaviraja had heard about Srinivasa Acharya and was eager to have his darsana.  In this way, he finally went to the house of Srinivasa acarya along with his new bride and was introduced by some of the local people. The day passed quickly in discussion of Hari-katha. They spent the night where they had been staying since coming to Yajigrama, at a brahmana’s house near the home of Shrinvasa Acharaya, and the following morning went to Srinivasa Acharya and fell before his feet offering prostrated obeisances.

The Acharya bade Ramachandra Kaviraja to get up from the ground, and heartily embraced him saying, “Life after life you have been my friend.  Providence has brought us together again today by arranging our meeting.” Both of them felt great happiness as a result of their having met.  

Seeing that Ramachandra had an acute and deeply learned transcendental intelligence, Srinivasa was very happy.  He began to make him hear the Goswami scriptures. Ramacandra’s pure behavior  which was always in accordance with the scriptures very much pleased Srinivasa acarya, and after a few days the Acharya initiated him in the divine Radha-Krishna mantra.

Gradually, Ramacandra Kaviraja became eager to go to Vrndavana and take darsana of the holy feet of the Goswamis there. After receiving permission and blessings from various Vaisnavas in Bengal, including Sri Raghunandana Thakura, he set out for Vrndavana on an auspicious day. 

 At that time, Srinivasa acarya was staying in Vrndavana. Arriving there, Ramachandra Kaviraja offered his obeisances at the lotus feet of Sri Jiva Goswami and Srinivasa acarya and gave the devotees there the auspicious news about all the devotees in Bengal. 

On the order of Jiva Goswami, Ramachandra Kaviraja went to visit the three principal deities of Vrndavana: Sri Madana-Mohan,  Sri Govinda, and Sri Gopinatha, as well as the memorial shrine or samadhi of Sanatana Goswami. 

He took darsana of the holy feet of the principle Goswamis residing in Vrndavana at the time, including Sri Lokanatha Goswami, Sri Gopala Bhatta Goswami, and Sri Bhugarbha Goswami. Seeing Ramacandra’s wonderful expertise in composing beautiful verses glorifying Sri Krsna, they gave him the title “Kaviraja,” in recognition of his scholarship.

After staying in Vrndavana for some time under the guidance of those great souls, and after visiting the important holy places, Ramachandra was ordered by the Goswamis to return to Bengal. 

Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja delivered many sinners and nonbelievers to a life of auspiciousness as a result of his mercy. At the festival in Kheturi-grama, he was one of the leaders. On the order of Narottama dasa Thakura and Srinivasa acarya he again went to Vrndavana. When he arrived there, he found that almost all the Goswamis had passed away. 

When he found that so many great souls had passed away, his heart was deeply pained.  After some days in Vrndavana, feeling the pain of separation in this way, while deeply meditating upon the lotus feet of Sri Radha and Govinda, he entered into their eternal Vrndavana. pastimes.  

His disappearance day is on the third day of the dark moon in the month of Pausa.

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Once there were three sages, and these sages were discussing what is the best age to be delivered from material existence. One said, “I propose that Satya-yuga is the best age, because it is the golden age, the age of enlightenment. Just by a few hundred thousand years of meditation one can go back to
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Dear Devotees, This is a personal appeal from myself (Ambarisa das) and Braja Vilasa prabhu. We are quickly approaching the historic opening of the Nrsimhadeva Wing in the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium scheduled for February 29 – March 2. Much of the Wing interior will be completed for what will be the largest Nrsimhadeva […]

The post TOVP Give To Nrsimha Campaign Appeal from Ambarisa Das appeared first on ISKCON News.

From: Naresh

How to overcome spiritual boredom?

Transcription
Question by Naresh: How to overcome spiritual boredom?

Answer: There is no such thing as spiritual boredom. I think what you mean is that boredom while we practice spiritual life. Boredom is essentially a material emotion. When at the material level we do not find life to be titillating or enjoyable, then we call it boring. Now, sometimes, spiritual life may appear like that. It may not appear titillating, stimulating, enjoyable because we are going through the motions of practicing spiritual life without trying to take our consciousness deep within to the remembrance of Krishna. In material life, people try to do newer and newer activities externally so that they can get newer and newer pleasures. Now, people may try to eat new food, they may try to develop relationship with new partners; so, in all these things, people are trying to do external activities in a new way, but the essential pleasure remains the same because the pleasure is actually not in the particular objects but it is in the speculation/imagination of the ___ (1:39), ye hi saṁsparśa-jā bhogā, so the contact of the sense and sense objects is what?…. manasi-jam…it creates an imagination, stimulation in our mind of pleasure. So, whichever sensory impulse, whichever sensation stimulates our imagination the most, we think that that is the most pleasurable. But it is all temporary and never gives us any lasting happiness.

Now, in spiritual life, we do not do new things externally, we chant the same Hare Krishna maha-mantra, we worship the same deities, we study the same scriptures, Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, then how can we experience happiness? If we keep searching for newness within spirituality in the external forms of the activities, then we will soon become bored. In material life, the activities are new, but the experiences remain the same. It is punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām, chewing the chewed again and again. In spiritual life, the activities remain the same, but the experiences are different. We chant the same Hare Krishna maha-mantra, but as our absorption in Krishna, as our intense devotional remembrance of Krishna increases, we experience greater and greater happiness and fulfillment.

So, to overcome boredom while doing our spiritual activities, we need to not just follow the forms of doing spiritual activity like chanting, taking darshan, studying scripture, but we need to do it with remembrance of Krishna. So, we can meditate that whatever I am doing, I am trying to do it to please Krishna, to serve Krishna, to love Krishna, and when we do it with that meditation, that focus, then we will find that gradually as we start connecting with Krishna more and more, the boredom will go away. And of course, if there are some activities within the devotional circle that we like to do, that give us a taste, then we can try to do them more. If you like to hear kirtans, if you like to sing bhajans, if you like to recite verses, we can do those more so that by doing these we can become more habituated to the reality of spiritual happiness. And as we started understanding that there is something called spiritual happiness, we will want to go deeper and deeper. So, once if we start singing and we start finding that hearing music or singing or this thing something like that gives me a taste, gives me spiritual happiness, we do it more and more. Gradually by that, our connection with Krishna increases, and when our connection with Krishna increases, we can connect with Krishna in other activities also which we may till then have not found so pleasurable. And then we will find that boredom will go far away.

So, two steps essentially: First is whatever we are doing in our devotional service, try to remember Krishna and do whatever we are doing as an offering of love for Krishna’s pleasure; and secondly, within spiritual circle whatever gives us pleasure, do it more so that we can experience the spiritual happiness and deepen our spiritual connection with Krishna and that connection can expand to all aspects of our spiritual life.

Thank you.

End of transcription.

By Dr. Baladeva Dasa It is a pleasure to announce the release of the Syamananda-satakam, composed by Sri Rasikananda Murari and adorned with a beautiful commentary by Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana. This is the tenth of the latter’s works published under the “Baladeva Vidyabhusana Project.” In this poem consisting of a hundred verses (satakam), Sri Rasikananda
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Health Update of H.H. Jayapataka Swami Camp: ISKCON Ahmedabad, 25th Jan 2024. Hare Krishna! Dear disciples and well-wishers of H.H. Jayapataka Maharaja, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to Guru Maharaja! Srila Guru Maharaja recently traveled to Ahmedabad from Kolkata for attending Bureau meetings, right after returning from Agartala.
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Srila Prabhupada once explained the festival this way: “Krishna was just a toy in the hands of the Gopis, so one day the Gopis decided that we shall decorate Him. Pusya abhisheka means a ceremony to decorate the deity profusely with flowers, ornaments, cloths. After there should be lavish feasting and a procession through the streets, so that all the citizens should see how beautiful Krishna appears.”

In the spiritual world the Gopis decorate Krishna and Balaram with feathers, fruits, leaves and flowers. Amongst their many gardens in Pushpavan near Kusum Sarovar, every day, just before noon, Srimati Radharani collects flowers from that garden to make beautiful garlands to offer to Krishna when He meets her at Radha Kunda.

. Diwali night Bhajan by PM Rishi Sunak & family at Southampton Mandir . गर्व से कहो हम हिंदू है। pic.twitter.com/2Zx6oVpHQQ — Minni Razdan (@mini_razdan10) November 14, 2023
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In 2017, during the Padayatra march in the Czech Republic, I was hit by a car with two other devotees. The driver of the car had an epileptic seizure and drove at full speed into our ten-member harinama group. She only stopped when she hit a gas station, in the place where cars are pumped
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The TOVP Communications Department is pleased to provide a page on the TOVP website dedicated to the promotion of the ISKCON Mayapur City.

Based on the Mayapur Master Plan brochure, Sri Chaitanya Cultural World Heritage Center, this page provides some insights into the current status and future plans of the World Headquarters of the Hare Krishna Movement in Sridham Mayapur, West Bengal, India. The ISKCON Mayapur City is the fulfillment of the vision of ISKCON Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada wherein a spiritual civilization dedicated to the principles of Vaishnavism and sanatan dharma can flourish and proper in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna.

Visit the ISKCON Mayapur City page to read more.

For more information on Srila Prabhupada’s instructions for ISKCON Mayapur, read the flipbook Srila Prabhupada on Mayapur which is available to view, download and share.

 

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