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We must practice to give ourselves

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Divine words of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev Goswami

‘ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi
na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau
svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ’
—-Srila Rupa Goswami

There are many sayings in the scriptures to encourage our realisation of the Holy Name in different ways, but Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī has given us a central thought. He quotes from the Padma Purāṇa: ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. Our senses, physical or mental, are ineligible to come in touch with the transcendental. The Name is nonmaterial (aprakṛta), without mundane limitation (vaikuṇṭha). It belongs to another plane. So, nothing about Kṛṣṇa, His Name, Form, Qualities, or Pastimes can be touched by our physical or mental senses. But when we have a serving attitude, He comes down to us of His own accord. Only then can our tongue really pronounce the Name of Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, only the physical sound of the letters of the Name can be produced. Our tongue, our hands, physical sound, all these mundane things cannot come in touch with Kṛṣṇa. Some intervening medium is necessary to connect this body with the supramundane. And that connection is our earnest desire to serve Kṛṣṇa, to satisfy Him. A bulb won’t light if there is no electricity. Only when the electrical current is there will the bulb be illumined. So, the name may appear on the tongue and in the ear, in the mind, or in writing, but we must have a connection from Vaikuṇṭha to this mundane world. And that connection is devotional service, a functional serving attitude. That alone can connect the physical realm with Vaikuṇṭha and Vṛndāvana.

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Holy feet of Vishnu

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Divine words of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev Goswami

HOLY FEET OF VISHNU

But in order to develop this kind of humility and forbearance, we must learn to see the Lord’s hand in everything. And therefore the Vedas tell us to remember that the glance of the Lord is always upon us.

Om tad visno paramam padam sada pasyanti suraya:

We are asked to see the holy feet of Narayana as we see the sun in the sky. Why the sun? The sun is described as pradarsaka: the seer, the witness. Apparently, we see the sun, but really the sun helps us to see. The holy feet of Visnu means the lowest part of Visnu—yoge vidhayam yasya vidyate kvacit. His lower part to us is the beginning of realization for us. The beginning of realization is to think that God is always seeing us. As the sun helps us to see, Visnu’s holy feet are like the sun. So we should try to always see everything by the rays of the holy feet of Visnu.

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Science of Devotion Proper

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Real progress towards the Infinite gives the idea that, “I am nothing, I am in great danger.” Progress towards the Infinite is like that. Thinking, “I have it, I am above,”—this is a foolish feeling, a foolish statement. The very nature of advancement is that, “I am low, I am undone, I am the most helpless.” The closer we are, the further away we will feel, whereas the further away we actually are from divinity, we may complacently feel we are close. As much as we come into the relativity of the Infinite, we cannot but conceive ourselves to be the lowest of the low.

That is the criteria.

The very sign of real progress will show I am nothing, I am the most needy, the most wretched and the most helpless. The negative aspect must be improved to attract the positive. If one point of the negative will say, “I am positive” then immediately it will be rejected, you are under the false control of måyå.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami

Vsanta Panchami Day – A Holy Day

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Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaj

1. The Appearance of Srimati Visnupriya Devi

Today is the Holy Day of Vasanta pancami (the fifth day of the light fortnight of the moon, month of Magh, when Krsna is worshiped with the new flowers of spring. On this day, the holy advent of Srimati Visnupriya Devi occurred. Her father was Sri Sanatana Misra of Nabadwip, who was a Brahmana and great devotee of Lord Visnu. Srimati Visnupriya Devi is the Eternal Con¬sort of Sri Gaurasundar in His feature of Gaura-Narayana, and according to Sri Gauraganoddesa dipika she is directly Satyabhama in Krsna’s Dvaraka lila.
She was the second wife of Sriman Mahaprabhu in the householder period of His Pastimes. From childhood, she was devout in the Divine Service of the Supreme Lord. Kasinatha Pandit was the intermediary in Her marriage to Mahaprabhu.
She was the ideal of Divine Self surrender at the Lotus Feet of Mahaprabhu. When she was only fourteen, Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, and after that she lived the rest of Her life in penance. From early morning she would take the Holy Name the whole day, and for every Mahamantra that she chanted, she would put one grain of rice into a clay pot. After chanting her quota, she would take that rice and cook it and offer it to the Lord. That was all she would take for her subsistence, so gradually she became emaciated. She passed her days in this way.
Her brother was her guardian after Saci-devi departed, and ultimately she had a Sri Murti (Deity) of Maha¬prabhu, and she would worship Him in that Form. And since the time of Visnupriya, that worship is being con¬tinued up to the present in the Temple here in Nabadwip known as ‘Mahaprabhura Badi’ (the Home of Maha¬prabhu). So this day of the year is connected with her holy memory, and we may achieve her Grace if we honor this time in her name, discussing her Pastimes. She will be propitiated and Sri Chaitanyadev will also be pleased with us, giving us a step forward in our transcendental march towards Him.

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Day of Separation from Sri Jiva Goswami

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Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj glorifies Śrīla Jīva Goswāmī’s service to the sampradāya.

Translated from a Bengali lecture
published in Śrī Gauḍīya Darśan,
Volume 2, Issue 6,
Friday, 11 December 1956.

The Day of Separation from Sri Jiva by Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj

Today is the disappearance day of Śrīla Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu — the third day of the waxing fortnight. This day draws my attention to the time Śrīla Prabhupād performed his Pastime of undergoing illness. We all felt that Śrīla Prabhupād was an avatār of Śrīla Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu because of the way he perfectly established the dignity of the sampradāya through flawless deliberation on the principles of pure devotion. Śrīla Prabhupād withdrew exactly one fortnight before this day, and we thought that he aimed to withdraw on the day of Śrī Jīva Goswāmī Prabhu’s disappearance.

As there is particular gradation in the rasas between heroes and heroines in this world, so there is also gradation between the rasas of the Lord’s liberated associates: some are immersed in dāsya-rasa (servitorship), some are immersed in audārya-rasa (magnaminity), and some are immersed in mādhurya-rasa (sweetness). Moreover, there is also gradation between [forms of] the Lord and His associates: Kṛṣṇachandra is dhīra-lalita (playful), Rāmachandra is dhīrodātta (noble), Yudhiṣṭhir is dhīra-śānta (steady), and Bhīmasen is dhīroddhata (insolent). Gradation in the characteristics of Āchāryas is also observed: some Āchāryas are vigorous, some Āchāryas are mild, and some Āchāryas are stern—in various ways, they all shine.

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A Tragedy of Separation

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According to solar calculation, it was the day of Makara-sankranti, an auspicious conjunction of the stars, that Nimai Pandita went to Katwa to take sannyasa, the renounced order of life. After this. He would become known as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He swam across the Ganges and in wet cloth ran towards Katwa. Just before this. He told only a few of His friends, including Nityananda Prabhu, Gadadhara Pandita, Mukunda, and others, “The time when I will accept the robe of renunciation is very near.”

Just a few days before this, an opposition party had been raised against Nimai Pandita. Those who believed that material nature is the highest principle and that consciousness is a product of matter, began to abuse Nimai Pandita. He thought, “I came to deliver the lowest of men, but if they commit offenses against Me, there will be no hope for their upliftment.” Suddenly, He said, “I came with that medicine which gives the greatest relief, but now I find that their disease is rapidly growing worse and seems beyond treatment. It will take its own course towards doom. The patients are committing offenses by abusing their doctor. They are making arrangements to insult Me. They take it that I am a family man—their nephew—they take Me as one of them. I came with the best medicine for the present degraded age, but now I find that they are plotting against Me. Now they are doomed. At least I have to show them that I am not one of them.” He thought, “I shall leave family life and take sa nnyasa and wander from village to village, town to town, preaching the holy name of Krsna.” That was His decision, and within a few days He went to take sannyasa at Katwa from Kesava Bharati Maharaja.

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Our ideal must be pure

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DIVINE WORDS OF THE GUARDIAN OF DEVOTION

“Our ideal must be pure and we must strive for it. We may be in a lower position, but if the ideal is clearly before us, that will help us in our real improvement of life. A man who possesses the true ideal is a real ‘capitalist’ in gaining a better position.”

Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj

We need slave mentality

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We need this wholesale and radical cure: ‘I do not belong to me, I have my eternal master.’ We need slave mentality.

“One day Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur sitting in his bhajan kutir told the devotees, ‘All the residents of the Math should always be engaged in the service of Sri Hari, Guru and Vaisnava. They should always be engaged in hearing Hari-katha and discussing Hari-katha. If one becomes averse to Hari-katha and Hari-seva then one will again be entangled by one’s material desires. Then one’s time will be spent in gossiping, criticising others, fighting with others and gratifying one’s senses. If the residents of the Math do not understand that Vaisnava-seva is the most beneficial thing, then they will not make progress in the realm of devotion. One has to cultivate one’s Krishna-conciousness by sincerely serving the Vaisnavas and by endeavoring to please the Vaisnava with body, mind and soul. By the petition of a Vaisnava, merciful Krishna will give His mercy to this sinful soul.’ This we have to remember all the time.

– Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaja

Readiness to give and serve

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Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami MaharajDivine Words of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj

“One who is sincere to dedicate himself naturally comes into contact with a higher and more subtle plane of life. By his readiness to give and serve, he will attain to a higher society and achieve an appropriate master.”

—Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj

Learning the Gift of Giving Yourself

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Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar MaharajDivine Words of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami

Learning the Gift of Giving Yourself

We must be very, very careful when we follow the highest object of our eternal life. Our Guru Mahārāja gave a special warning – “sevonmukhe”. We were not allowed to read much – even these ordinary subjects dealing with sādhana, devotional practices – what to speak of the higher literatures. But we were encouraged by “śravanaṁ-kīrtanam,” hearing from the real source and acting accordingly. In this way, by serving, learn to give yourself properly. There are different methods of service: śravanam, hearing; kīrtanam, chanting; smaranam, remembering; and vandanam, praying, etc. Then, Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī has mentioned sixty-four kinds of devotional practices and it is further mentioned – a thousand kinds of devotional practices
[see Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu].

The Key to the Hidden Treasure
Work Under the Guidance of a Vaishnava

But practices are not very important. The very life of the practice is all-important and that is self-dedication, self-giving. So, be very particular to learn dedication and self-giving. This means practically to work under the guidance of a Vaiṣṇava devotee – getting ready to work under a proper agent. This will help you a great deal to learn, to practice what is dedication to that Sweet Lord. Guidance must come from those above you. It is very rare, but it is most valuable to us. Whatever directions are coming from above, we must selflessly embrace that as all in all. This is the clue; this is the key to the Hidden Treasures in your heart. I will not work with my whims or serve men on my level. But we shall very eagerly obey what directions will come from the above plane. This is service proper and it will be a real help for progressing on the path of dedication and self-giving.