Srimati Radharani

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."

A friend mailed me this beautiful excerpt from a book by Srila BR Sridhara Maharaja; here he is speaking on the brahma gayatri mantra, which women do not have (it makes women hard-hearted, but softens mens' hearts, I've read), still it is very beautiful and applicable to any meditation one is doing on Srimati Radharani:

"Radha-dasyam, the service of Srimati Radharani,
is the ultimate meaning to be extracted from the
gayatri mantra. That is the supreme end of our
life. It cannot but be so. Srimad-Bhagavatam is
the ultimate or full-fledged theism to be
extracted from the Vedas, Upanisads, and so
many scriptures. All the revealed truth rises to
its acme, to its highest position, in the
conception given by Srimad-Bhagavatam. And
Srimad-Bhagavatam teaches us that the highest
realization, self-determination, is the service of
Srimati Radharani - that under her guidance we
may serve Sri Krsna. We aspire for a direct
connection with her service.

"...The very gist of svarupa-sakti is
Srimati Radharani, and the whole svarupa-sakti
is her extended self. The town of her beautiful
service is the whole svarupa-sakti.
Just as rays of light extend from the sun, the
whole internal potency is an extension of
Mahabhava, Sri Radhika. She has developed
herself into such a beautiful area of brilliance, of
internal energy, and thereby she serves her Lord.
All these necessary things have sprung from her.

"To help her in serving her Lord, they all come out.
When the entire internal energy is condensed in a
concise form, it is Mahabhava, Radharani. And
when Radharani wants to serve, she extends
herself in limitless different ways. And with
some contribution from Baladeva and Yogamaya,
the whole spiritual world, including Vrndavana,
Mathura, and Vaikuntha, evolves to assist Srimati
Radharani in the service of Sri Krsna."

"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]

Self-forgetfulness

Less today, sorry! Will edit later.



Quick quote post:

"What is love?
That sacrifice that service is rewarded by more intense hankering for service.
A self-giving attitude. That is the remuneration. It will be increased in us more and more. Your serving tendency will be increased if you work as a slave. The appreciation of slavery will be more intensely at His disposal.

Srila B.R. Sridhar Maharaja

"Self-forgetfulness is of a dynamic characer. Self-forgetfulness in totality demands self-forgetfulness. Then we shall be able to feel the deepest plane; the flow of the deepest plane; that plane of the Autocrat within us.

"Our present ego will not allow us to go to the deeper plane, the most fundamental plane of the irresistible flow. It is so subtle, so sweet, and we can go, we can reach that destination. Nothing can oppose us. We can attain that fundamental flow. Self-forgetfulness is of such dynamic character!"

by Srila Bhakti-Rakshak Sriadhar Maharaja

from Sermons of the Guardian of Devotion, Volume 5: Poetry of a Saint

Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaja

"We must take shelter of His holy name; it is inseparable from His existence. The sound aspect of divinity can help us a great deal on the way back to Godhead. His holy name is our slogan, our war cry - "Hare Krsna!" With that slogan, we shall march on with His genuine agents. We must follow them and withdraw ourselves from all other possibilities and promises, all so-called prospects of life."

- Swami B.R. Sridhar

It has been far too long since my last post. I have been engaged in reading, chanting, and parikrama, but still, this blog is something I shall not abandon and want to continue to engage myself in.

Today is the holy appearance day of Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhara Maharaja - JAI!!

Here is one excerpt from this very beautiful gem of a book, Sri Guru and His Grace:

"Everyone must ask himself, 'Where am I? What is my real need? And how much am I hankering for the real thing?'

"All these things will be expressed, and made public. So, this is the real field of sadhana, or practice. Our practice, our advancement, needs all these difficulties. Otherwise we may not know what is progress...So, to purify ourselves it is necessary that many disturbances come.

"...The environment is in the hands of the Lord. He has not done any wrong to me. If I am sincere, then I have to adjust myself with this environment and put my faith before Him. By our stand in any circumstances in the battle, our patriotism will be put to the test. We will be tested to see whether we are real soldiers or not.

"Anything will come, but we will have to face that. I must not forget my Lord, my guru, my Gauranga, my Radha-Govinda, under any circumstances. Under all unfavorable circumstances, I must stand with my head erect and say, 'Yes! I am a servant of that clan, that sampradaya. Everyone may leave me, but I shall stand alone!'

"With this attitude, we must march on, whatever the circumstances may be. Then....our superiors will be pleased with us.

"We must analyze ourselves. How much as we selfish? To what percent are our unwanted bad habits, anarthas, still present in our hearts? How much are the impurities of karma, jnana, mental desires, and other filthy things mixed with the real faith - that must come out, and that must be eliminated in different ways. If we want real good, no one can hinder us. With this spirit we must move and then we will be able to understand what is what."

Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhara Maharaja ki JAI!

Srila Rupa Goswami as Rupa Manjari

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 want to share some nectar about Srila Rupa Goswami in his form as a manjari or maidservant of Srimati Radhika, Rupa Manjari. I read the following sweet excerpt from "Sri Guru and His Grace" written by Srila Bhakti-Rakshak Sridhara Maharaja (pictured above with Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada).

First he establishes the supreme position of Srimati Radhika and Her service as our highest goal, as told by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu:

"The servitorship of Srimati Radharani is said to be of the living being by the school established by Mahaprabhu. It is the gist of the Srimad Bhagavatam. It is Krishna's own version."

He quotes Srimad Bhagavatam 11.14.15 and 10.47.61, where Krsna praises Uddhava, and where Uddhava praises the gopis, of whom Srimati Radhika is the topmost. He then quotes Jayadeva Goswami, who writes in his Gita Govinda how, when Srimati Radhika left the rasa dance, even with all the gopis there Krsna was not satisfied, and chased after Radhika.

From there:

"The rupanuga sampradaya, the followers of Sri Rupa, are those who have the unique taste of service in the camp of Radharani...The highest kind of divine sentiment is distributed from the camp of Srimati Radharani, and that can never be compared with any attainment hitherto known even in the eternal factor of time and space.

"...Why should we try to enter into the camp of Radharani?...Radharani's service to Krishna is of the highest order in every way. If we devote our energy to help Radharani, our energy will be utilized in Her service. In this way She will serve Krishna with Her service more enhanced. Then the reciprocation will pass to us through Her as our reward. That will be devotion of the highest type, mahabhava...



"Yet still, there is another, higher thing. We are known as rupanugas, followers of Sri Rupa. Why? The service of Srimati Radharani eliminates everything, even Narayana, to go to Krishna...

"Still, there is another point. Who is Rupa? Rupa Manjari. Generally the hierarchy in the spiritual world is eternal. New recruits can occupy a particular rank of manjari, assistant, in madhurya rasa. And the leader of manjaris is Sri Rupa Manjari...



"When Radharani and Krishna are in secrecy, in private, the sakhis [Lalita, Visakha, and their followers] do not like to approach there and disturb...but the younger girls [manjaris] can enter there....


"New recruits may come to the manjari class. The manjaris have that sort of special advantage under the leadership of Sri Rupa Manjari....the most sacred type of pure service, which is not even open to the sakhis [Radharani's girl friends], is open to the manjaris. That is found in Radharani's camp. So, the position of the rupanuga, the followers of Sri Rupa, is the most profitable position.

"...So, the camp, the sampradaya of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is known as the rupanuga sampradaya. There our fate and fortune is located. Now we have to conduct ourselves in such a way that naturally we can connect with that highest, pure spiritual conception from here."

Srila Rupa Goswami, Rupa Manjari ki JAI!!

I got to hear more nectar on Srila Rupa Goswami, his literature, and how special he was, to know the mood of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I will try and share more tomorrow. Now I am in New Braj, and I heard from Gopanandini that Srila Gurudeva used to do a festival for Srila Rupa Goswami, from his disappearance day until Balarama's Appearance Day. So I will try and stay in that mood and post more on Srila Rupa Goswami tomorrow.

How merciful is Srila Rupa Goswami in his form as Sri Rupa Manjari! All she wants is to help us serve Srimati Radhika, the highest goal. I also heard Srila Gurudeva describe how, whereas the sakhi friends of Radharani try to pacify her sulkiness and separation, Rupa Manjari is so close to Radharani that she actually *feels* the same things that Radha is feeling, when She is feeling them. How wonderful is Sri Rupa Manjari...

The Prospect of Divine Love; Srila Rupa Goswami

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 is the disappearance day of Srila Rupa Goswami. Srila Rupa Goswami is a very important person. It is he who knows the heart and mood of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In Krsnaloka, Rupa Goswami is Rupa Manjari. She is the head of all the manjaris, or personal maidservants, of Srimati Radhika.

Srila Gurudeva makes the distinction in his Essence of All Advice that Rupa Manjari is not like Lalita and Visakha, and other dear friends of Srimati Radhika. Those friends of Srimati Radhika try to dissuade Her from Her sulking mood or Her separation. But Rupa Manjari feels the very same things that Srimati Radhika feels. So when Radhika is in separation, so is Rupa Manjari, and when Radhika is happy with Krsna, then Rupa feels that she is with Krsna, too.

Right now I am reading 'Sri Guru and his Grace' by Srila Bhakti-rakshak Sridhara Maharaja. In this book, he has one part where he speaks about the prospect of divine love, and quotes Srila Rupa Goswami's Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu:

"At present, we are disconnected from the prospect of divine love which we cherish in the innermost quarter of our hearts. If we want to have that privilege very easily and very quickly, we must approach the Lord with plain speaking and with a naked body and mind, with everything exposed.

Srila Rupa Goswami in Bhakti rasamrta sindhu (1.2.152) has written:



mat-tulyo nasti papatma
naparadhi ca kascana
parihare pi lajja me
kim bruve purusottama
"My Lord, I feel ashamed. How shall I offer You so many pure things like flowers? Generally, pure things are offered to You, but what about me? I have come with the most filthy thing to offer You. I feel ashamed. I have come to You, with only my shame, to beg for Your mercy. There is no parallel to my sinful life, criminal life. Everything that can be conceived of as bad is found in me. It is very difficult even to speak about the characteristics of my heinous sins and crimes.

"Still, Your nature, existence, fame, and benevolence cannot but attract me. You can save me. You can purify me. Hoping against hope, I have come to You. And I have only one solace, that I am the real object of Your mercy. Your tendency is to purify the meanest. Those who are the most needy have some claim to Your mercy. I am the worst of the needy and the meanest of the mean. This is my only qualification, my only hope to attract Your attention and appeal to Your magnanimity."

I think this quote is extra amazing, because here it seems to me that Srila Rupa Goswami is teaching us how to pray to the Lord, and how to pray to our most magnanimous gurus. And our gurus tell us to pray to Srila Rupa Goswami.

Here is a nice class on the swing festival, jhulan yatra, which this year lasts from yesterday and ends Sunday (the day after Lord Balarama's appearance day!). This class also includes some katha on Srila Rupa Goswami, by Srila Gurudeva:

link to class

jhulan yatra ki jai!

I will post more on Srila Rupa Goswami today. For now, this is it. All glories to Srila Rupa Goswami!