The fully-ripened transcendental fruit, the holy name

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."

 "The holy name is the most auspicious of all that is auspicious, and the sweetest of all that is sweet. It is the fully-ripened transcendental fruit of all the creepers of the Srutis...if a person even once chants the name of Krsna without offence - be it with faith or indifferently - that chanting will deliver him from the bondage of material existence."

- as quoted in Sri Bhajana-Rahasya by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura

O Nitai! Nitai! Nitai! His mercy...

emana nirghrna more keba krpa kare
eka nityananda vinu jagat bhitare

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Ädi-lila 5.205–207)

“I am more sinful than Jagai and Madhai and even
lower than worms in stool. Anyone who hears my
name loses the results of his pious activities. Anyone
who utters my name becomes sinful. Who in this
world but Nityananda could show His mercy to such
an abominable person as me?”

as found in: The Rays of the Harmonist, no. 18, Kartik 2008

The instruction of guru is also guru

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."

 

"The instruction of guru is also guru. You'll get the mercy of the guru through his instructions. One who is very, very eager and very, very inquisitive will pray to his spiritual master, 'O spiritual master, you are not physically present, so I cannot understand. I am such an ignorant fol. I have no qualification. Though your instructions are there, I cannot understand what you have said. Please help me.'"

- Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja

"Vaidhi bhakti is not artificial"

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."

 

 

 

[Srila Narayan Gosvami Maharaja:] Vaidhi-bhakti is not artificial. If you pray, "Oh Krsna, please remove all my anarthas (bad thoughts and habits). Be pleased with me and give me pure bhakti," that is not artificial. And, if a devotee is engaging in sravanam (hearing Krsna's names and glories), kirtanam (chanting His names and glories), visnu smaranam (remembering Him), this is not artificial.

[Jaganatha dasa:] But in vaidhi-bhakti, sometimes one has to force himself to think and act properly.

[Srila Narayan Gosvami Maharaja:] No harm - this is practice. If your mind is not fixed in one-pointed devotion, then you must bring it back from the other places. You are hearing hari-katha - this is not artificial. You are performing kirtana - this is not artificial. You are worshiping - this is not artificial.

Source: Two Morning Walks

Don't be worried about your future

"Sincerely perform hari bhajana and serve Hari, guru, and vaisnavas. By doing so, you will never encounter any problem, but the moment you think of your own happiness, various types of problems will arise before you. Don't be worried about your future, because your spiritual guardians, sri guru and vaisnavas are worrying for that."

- Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja

Hear, chant, study

Srila Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Goswami Maharaja

“"You should attentively study the spiritual magazines.
As you get time you must study and discuss Kalyäna
kalpataru, Prarthanä, Caitanya-caritämrta, and so on. You
will be able to attain all perfection by offenselessly chanting .
Sri Näma reveals Himself when one hears, studies
and discusses sastra. The anarthas that you have at present
will not become prominent if you intensely perform
sravana and kirtana.”"

 - from "Association of Sadhus in the Form of Sastras" by Srila Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Goswami Maharaja, Rays of the Harmonist, no. 9, Winter 2001

"If you want to do anything good to the world, talk about Krsna."

“If you want to do anything good to the world, talk about Krsna. Try to distribute Him— - He who can compensate for all other alternatives. Only try to distribute that central, absolute thing to help the people and the environment, and don'’t have any other sort of duty.

"Only try to distribute this teaching of sarva-dharmän parityajya, mäm ekam saranam vraja to whomever you meet. If you want to do good to others, only give this highest thing. Engage yourself in this way and you will become more and more confirmed in your position, and so many others will be benefitted. No other more holy duty than this can be there."

- Srila BR Sridhar Maharaja, commenting on CC Madhya 7.128
From The Rays of the Harmonist no. 9, Winter 2001

"I am not a servant of A, B, C, or D. I am a servant of Mahaprabhu."

"I am not a servant of A, B, C, or D. I am a servant of Mahaprabhu. I may have to turn this way or that way, or whatever way will be favorable to reach my Lord. Wherever I feel the presence of my Lord in an intense form, I must be attracted to that side. We are out for that thing, and not for any fashion or formality; that will hamper our cause.

"Krsna says, sarva-dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja. Wherever we  shall find him, we must run in that direction. The direction may not be always straight. It may go in a zigzag way, but if Krsna comes from that side, I must run there. Again if he appears on this side, I must run to this side. My interest is with him. Not that we can challenge, "Why did Krsna appear here, and why is he appearing there? That may be a doubtful thing, so I must stay on this side." No. If I have genuine appreciation for the real thing, the proper thing, I must go to that side, the side of Krsna."

[ Sri Guru and His Grace, p. 108, Copyright @1983, by Gaurdian of Devotion Press]

"Your life should be given to Krsna"

"Initiation alone will not do. Practically follow all of my instructions. Merely taking initiation but not following is not sufficient. Positively follow and you will see that, atma samprasidyati, your soul will always be happy. No obstruction will come.

"We should strongly accept that which is favorable for bhakti and we should at once reject that which is unfavorable. Then progress will be made.

"Your life should be given to Krsna. Go on chanting and remembering. Be satisfied with whatever Krsna is doing."

"Never are you alone"

 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."

"Krsna and Guru are in your heart, so don't feel this - that I am alone. Never are you alone; He who has created you is always with you."

- HDG Srila BV Narayana Gosvami Maharaja

Memories from 2007

 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."


I found some notes I took in 2007 on the first day of the New Braj (Badger) festival. Srila Gurudeva asked the devotees to speak on this question: "Why do pure devotees travel all over the world?"

Following are some of the things they said. I hope it is okay that I share who spoke what:

Gopanandini didi: "Gurudeva can hear our hearts. What kind of ears the pure devotees must have, to hear our hearts crying out."

Nirguna prabhu: "Prabhupada had an arsenal of weapons [for preaching and spreading Krsna consciousness]. First, the books, more books, and then the final weapon - the brahmastra weapon - Srila Gurudeva!"

Sravana prabhu: "We are very fortunate to be here. Some people come and think it's vacation - seven days off of work. But this is not vacation; this is where the work begins! We are so fallen that we have sadhu-sanga available, but are still entangled in maya and material life. So the pure devotee comes to us, since we will not go to him."

Sripad BV Niskincana Maharaja (Brajendranandana prabhu): "I am mad, I am bad, I am sad. I hope you make me glad!"

Spiritual Greed

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."

Quote:

"If there is no greed, then yukti, or logical argument, will influence our
consideration as to whether we should, or should not, pray
for this attainment. If there is greed, no reasoning is needed.
Our rāgānuga-sādhana will be kept very sacred and secret, and
we will desire to meet with those persons who have a keen
interest in such sādhana. We will not discuss these topics with
anyone else.

"At that time there will be no need for sastric yukti; no need
to become convinced by sastric reasoning or logic. Suppose a
man loves a lady, or a lady loves a man. There is no reason why
the lady loves that man; she simply saw him and fell in love
with him. Greed is like that.

"We should try to perform vaidhī-bhakti always, thinking,
'I am performing vaidhī-bhakti by the grace of Ƙṛṣṇa, who is
so merciful.' Greed will come later on. The practices of both
are one; there is no difference. Some difference is there, but
no real difference.

"If a blind man prays for something, there is no harm in
that. 'I want to be in Vṛndāvana.' What harm is there in such
desire? 'I want to serve my Gurudeva in transcendental Goloka
Vṛndāvana.' There is no harm in this desire. We should avoid
thinking, 'I am a gopī, a mañjarī. I am doing this and that
service.' We are not qualified to go there, so we pray for that
qualification."

- Srila Gurudeva in Raga-vartma-chandrika

Dearest Krishna

Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Goswami Maharaja

"There is no difficulty in the worship of Sri Krishna, as He is nearest and dearest. He is residing within our hearts. He is seeing everything. If we sincerely desire to serve Him, He will surely help us. He does not see mundane merits. He sees the sincerity of our hearts, whether we actually want Him or not. One who sincerely wants Him, will surely get Him. You submit all your prayers to Him sincerely. He will fulfill your desires."

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

The Way to Transcendence

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.


Lately I have not been able to post daily, weekly, even monthly. In order to rectify this, I am going to start a new thing - short posts with quotes from our guruvarga and vaisnavas. That way I can still get a post in and share, but I can have time for other things. Right now it is Kartik, and here in Srila Gurudeva's New Braj, we are doing daily parikrama. This week is especially busy because we are preparing for Govardhan Puja! =) Jai!

Also I am doing evening pujari service for Sri Sri Radha Govinda. Pictures of them soon!

Here is our quote today:

Srila Gurudeva (Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja):

"You should know that the transcendental names and pastimes of Krsna are all transcendental. Our body, our senses, our tongue, and our ears are material. They can never reach transcendence. There is only one process by which they can touch it. By praying, praying, praying to the lotus feet of gurudeva and Krsna, they will come and they will be in oneness with our tongue, ears, senses, and hearts."

- 29 April 2001