The senses of the one, non-dual Supreme Truth; Praying for worthiness to serve

"The ultimate object of our desires is to become specks of dust at the lotus feet of the followers of Sri Rupa Goswami.
Remain united in following the asraya-vigraha, in order to satisfy the transcendental senses of the one, non-dual Supreme Truth...
May we never under any circumstances becomes indifferent to the seven-tongued sacrificial flame of the Holy Name.
If our attraction to it remains ever-increasing, we will achieve all perfection."

- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur

"We pray that our commitment to these last instructions of his manifest presence in this world may be unfailing. May we never interpret these words to elicit secondary meanings that allow us to engage in sense gratification, but rather, single-mindedly dedicating all our energies and working together aim for the pleasure of 'the senses of the one, non-dual Supreme Truth,' making it the one and only goal of our lives. If we wish to show our love and faith for our spiritual master, it will be by following these teachings."

- Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaja

"...My most worshipable Gurudeva...did not see the faults in anyone; he was most compassionate. We who aspire to become the servants of his servants and to partake of the remnants of his plate, pray to him with all the sincerity at our command that by his causeless mercy he will give us the worthiness to serve him. We pray to him to please make our hearts simple and free from deception; may he forgive us of our offenses, and consider us the servants of his servants, birth after birth. May he free us from the aversions of this world and keep us fixed in service to his lotus feet."

- Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Maharaja

"I will never allow you to give up the path of pleasing the senses of the Lord".

Final Instructions of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur by Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Maharaja:

"Please preach the kirtana of the Supreme Lord, even if in doing so you have to incur debt; then in order to pay off that debt, you will have to be even more engaged in seva. When your creditors put pressure on you, you will be forced to beg more alms. Again, as the pious householders will not give you alms unless your character and conduct are pure, you will be forced to preserve a pure lifestyle with great determination and care.

I will not leave one penny for you, so that in future you won't indulge in laziness and you won't be able to give up your devotional lives full of hari-kirtana and hari-seva.

The math is the center of hari-kirtana, and hari-kirtana is life and consciousness.
To ensure that there is no place for laziness, bad conduct, trivial thought, gossip, or vulgar desire in the math, you have to go from door to door, where your hari-kirtana will be tested by the public. When the public will think that they are the givers of alms and you are the receiver of alms—in other words, that their status is higher than yours—they will critizice you in many ways, thinking you are objects of their mercy. Perhaps some of them will also be ready to kick you out.

Then, on one hand, you will be able to become trnad api sunicha (humbler than a blade of grass) and manada (respectful to others), and on the other hand, you will
take great care to make your lives and characters pure and exemplary.

Furthermore, what will be beneficial for you is this:
as you will correct the mistakes of the common people by citing the message of sadhu, sastra, and guru-varga, you will not make those same mistakes.

Please do not be upset if someone criticizes you personally. But your guru-varga, sastra, and mahajanas are completely faultless, supremely liberated, and eternal associates of the Lord. If, due to ignorance, someone criticizes them, then you should correct that person's mistakes by telling them the real truth. This will be very beneficial for both you and the ignorant people. If you become lazy about begging for alms from door to door to collect ingredients for hari-kirtana, and if you indulge in laziness and bad habits, preferring reclusive bhajan so you can escape others' criticism, then your character will not be purified. You will not have the life of devotional practice.

I will never give you any opportunity to live in a reclusive place so that you can become undisciplined in your heart, thinking no one will come to see or hear you there.

You are my dear-most friends. I will never allow you to give up the path of pleasing the senses of the Lord so you can please the senses of the people of the world, as well as your own, because you received some temporary position or you could not
tolerate some temporary criticism."

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur - belated

Picture:
Gurudeva

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah
O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance.


An entire month gone by without a post! Please forgive me!

The other day we celebrated the auspicious disappearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. Jai!!

Here is some nectar from him:

KITE-PLAYING ON AN UNWALLED ROOF

A dull headed boy was once happily flying a kite from an unwalled rooftop. He became so engrossed in playing that he lost his awareness. His playmates were also encouraging him very much. The boy got so carried away that he failed to notice that one of his legs was hanging over the edge of the roof. None of the other boys alerted him to this peril; rather they simply continued to encourage him to fly the kite.

At that critical moment, a wise man happened to pass by. He saw that the boy was in imminent danger of falling from the roof. He immediately rushed up to save the boy although the others saw no danger. He pulled the boy away from the edge, tore off the thread of the kite and took away the spool of thread.

But the foolish boy and his friends, rather than feeling thankful, began to curse the wellmeaning gentleman. They called him a thief, rascal, trespasser, gunda, hooligan, ruffian and other such names. They even threatened to take the gentleman to court after complaining to their over-indulgent parents. Some even tried to physically assault him. Bearing all this, the kind-hearted gentleman saved the boy from imminent death.

PURPORT

Materialistic persons embrace their certain death by accepting whatever is apparently palatable to them. By no means are they prepared to accept anything which is apparently bitter but ultimately pleasant. Many of our so-called friends in this material world also encourage us in sense gratificatory activities that lead us to certain death and destruction.

By chance if one comes across a benevolent saintly person, he preaches to us out of his sheer mercy some real truths although in an unpleasantly stern exposition (like a dose of strong medicine) in spite of our unwillingness to accept it. Therefore we should accept all good sermons from saintly persons delivered in the cause of our eternal welfare, even if those words appear utterly bitter and heart rending.

-from Upakhyane Upadesa, Instructive Stories from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

The white lotus of good fortune

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah

O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance.


Today, I started reading Srila Gurudeva's commentary on Sri Siksastakam. This book contains two books, both of which are commentaries on Sri Krsna Caitanya's siksastakam. One is Sri Sanmodana Bhasyam by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, and the other is simply called Vivrti, meaning "commentary" by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. Some of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura's commentary is based on commentary by Srila Jiva Goswami (for verses 7 and 8 of siksastakam).




Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura

In his introduction, Srila Gurudeva emphasizes the deep pain he felt that these two gems were not in the Hindi language; so he translated it into Hindi, and the mercy of the vaishnavas so sincerely serving him we have an English translation as well.

It is very extensive and detailed; I am only on sloka 1 of the siksastakam (chapter one of this book) and already there is detailed commentary by Srila Bhaktivinode, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, Srila Jiva Goswami, and Gurudeva on this one sloka! It is kind of a lot to take in. There are many lists branching off of other lists; my poor feeble mind has trouble keeping track of it all!

Here is some nectar by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura:

"Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the Supreme Lord of all and whose lotus feet are constantly served by suddha Vaisnavas, says, 'param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam.' In other words, let there be supreme victory only for the chanting of the holy name of Sri Krsna. A question may be raised here. Can sri-krsna-sankirtana, which is aprakrta, non-material, and beyond the range of maya, become victorious in this material world created by the external energy? Yes."

Later, detailing the effects of Sri Krsna sankirtana, there is one section titled "Sreyah kairava candrika vitaranam: Diffuses the moonrays of bhava bhakti for the highest good of the jiva":

"For the living entities ensnared by maya, material enjoyment alone is desirable, and it is on this account that they have to rotate in the cycle of repeated birth and death in this material world, suffering the three-fold miseries. In complete opposition to this, aversion toward maya and constant engagement in the service of Sri Krsna is the highest achievement (sreyah).

This highest achievement is compared to the white water lotus or kumudini. Just as the soothing rays of the moon cause the white lotus to blossom, sri-krsna-sankirtana, diffusing the moon rays of bhava-bhakti, causes the white lotus of good fortune to bloom for the jivas."