Taking on personal responsibility Posted: 26 Oct 2011 03:10 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, Australia, October 2011) In the gṛhastha-āśrama we cannot take full advantage of the temple – it's not possible. Temple devotees they live in the temple and there is a full program, whether they want it or not. For instance, with maṅgala-ārati sometimes they do not want it: "I hope that there will be no maṅgala-ārati today." But it goes on everyday, without fail! That is the nature of the temple. So therefore, in the temple there is so much push to help us to overcome our weakness. In the gṛhastha-āśrama it is not so. In the gṛhastha-āśrama, one has to take personal responsibility. If a brahmacāri did not go to the maṅgala-ārati for a few days, then he will be chastised and pulled up: "What's going on! Pull your socks up!! It cannot go like this! Understood? Or else sanctions will follow!" But it's not like that for the gṛhasthas, since they have to do it……..it's difficult….very difficult, but together it becomes possible. So therefore, between the two of them, one must inspire the other, by setting an example: 'A competition of who can get up first…..who can get up the earliest – not who can get up the last! And the last one loses! The one who gets up first, wins for the day. Let's see who is going to win the next day'. Like that, we must try and invest in our spiritual life!

The weekend is for Krishna! Posted: 26 Oct 2011 03:02 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, Australia, October 2011) The weekend is for Krishna. In the weekend we go to the temple as much as we can and partake in different things. In that way in the weekend we are free to be ourselves. In the week, all right we have to play the game in our profession, and work life. The kids have to go to school, which is the same since we have to be part of the worldly side of life. But that isn't what we really want! We really want Krishna!

--
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com

KKSblog.com - Taking on personal responsibility

Symphony. by jahnavi I am writing without really knowing why. Sometimes writing is motivated by a new understanding, a 'realisation'. But what realisation do I have? You can realise something, as in understand it, but surely to truly realise something means to 'bring it into reality', to live it. So to truly have a realisation means to understand something and then apply it every day. So what have I realised lately? In small ways, like gathering scraps and snippets and threads, I have begun to understand that the things I thought were important - security, companionship, money - are not as important as they seem. Sometimes it seems like we are all living a great misunderstanding. We need so little, and the smallest things are the greatest treasures. To sing, to love, to dance. To smile as we fall asleep and as we wake. We can choose to do these things, or choose not to. I have begun to glimpse that life is like a symphony of beauty and pain in equal measures. The music plays on, and each of us must decide how to play. We can choose to play with grace and humility. We can choose to play in such a way as to always push ourselves beyond our perceived limits. We can choose that if we trip up on a few notes, we smile and play on, no problem. We can choose to look up from the safety of our sheet music at the conductor, and feel safety and guidance in the movement of his hands. We can choose to play alone, and sometimes that is how the music is supposed to go. But at other times we are surrounded by a full orchestra, and we can feel the joy of harmony, the thrill of delicious syncopation. Or if we are feeling insecure, we can watch the hands and faces of our fellow musicians and feel strength in togetherness. We can sing a painful song together. Or we can even fall silent. In times when our voices will not sing and our hands will not play, we can just listen to the music that washes within and without, steady like a timeless tide.  -- Yours Dinesh Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com

Symphony - By Jahnavi Harrison

Bhagavad-gita As It Is | Part [BG.11.43]
 

TEXT 55:

mat-karma-krin mat-paramo
mad-bhaktah sanga-varjitah
nirvairah sarva-bhuteshu
yah sa mam eti pandava

 
TRANSLATION:

My dear Arjuna, he who engages in My pure devotional service, free from the contaminations of fruitive activities and mental speculation, he who works for Me, who makes Me the supreme goal of his life, and who is friendly to every living being—he certainly comes to Me.

 

PURPORT:

Anyone who wants to approach the supreme of all the Personalities of Godhead, on the Krishnaloka planet in the spiritual sky, and be intimately connected with the Supreme Personality, Krishna, must take this formula, as stated by the Supreme Himself. Therefore, this verse is considered to be the essence of Bhagavad-gita. The Bhagavad-gita is a book directed to the conditioned souls, who are engaged in the material world with the purpose of lording it over nature and who do not know of the real, spiritual life. The Bhagavad-gita is meant to show how one can understand his spiritual existence and his eternal relationship with the supreme spiritual personality and to teach one how to go back home, back to Godhead. Now here is the verse which clearly explains the process by which one can attain success in his spiritual activity: devotional service.

 

As far as work is concerned, one should transfer his energy entirely to Krishna conscious activities. As stated in the Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu (1.2.255),

 

anasaktasya vishayan
yatharham upayunjatah
nirbandhah krishna-sambandhe
yuktam vairagyam ucyate

 
Translation and commentary by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 --
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com

1who engages in My PureDevotionaService,1who works4Me,1who makes Me d Supreme Goal of his Life,1who is friendly2every LvingBeing,certainly comes2Me [BG.11.43]

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May that Lord Jagannatha become the object of my vision!

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Refreshing our enthusiasm! Posted: 24 Oct 2011 03:09 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, Australia, October 2011) On just patience alone, how long can one function? We are not so strong in this age. In our determination, we do not have so much patience. Therefore, we need to refresh our enthusiasm! So for that we can do things: We can make pilgrimages; we can go to Vrindavan; we'll go regularly to the temple; we are with devotees; we take the trouble to go on harinama and so on, because such things renew our enthusiasms!

Only Krishna gives Krishna-prema Posted: 24 Oct 2011 02:42 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, Australia, October 2011) Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva can give so many benedictions, but they cannot give what Lord Vishnu can give, which is liberation from birth and death! Of course, Lord Vishnu cannot give what Lord Krishna can give – that is Krishna-prema. Therefore, we understand that demigods are to be respected but they cannot compare to Vishnu. We worship Lord Vishnu but our deity is Lord Krishna….especially, because Krishna….only Krishna can give us Krishna-prema – the love of God that exists in Goloka!

KKSblog.com - Refreshing our enthusiasm!

On Care!!!

Bhakti Vikäsa Swami

nama oà viñëu-pädäya kåñëa-preñöhäya bhü-tale
çrémate bhaktivedänta-sväminn iti nämine
namas te särasvate deve gaura-väëé-pracäriëe
nirviçeña-çünyavädi-päçcätya-deça-täriëe



Srila Prabhupäda, only a fool would consider you anything less than a topmost perfect paramahaàsa, an ambassador from the spiritual world, a personal representative of Kåñëa. For one blessed with the eyes to see, everything about you evidences your extraordinary love for Kåñëa. As is profusely and lovingly described in this Vyäsa-püjä book, you are abundantly decorated with all the symptoms of a pure devotee.

Yet you defy the pathetic, disgusting stereotype of a saintly person who wears a dreamy smile and is perpetually “nice.” Your unfathomable love for Kåñëa is manifest not simply by talking of love, compassion, and other such exalted virtues, but more realistically in your down-to-earth, service-oriented example—which defies the listlessness of so-called premé-bhaktas, whose reputations rest on their narrating of gopé-léläs, bathing in Rädhä-kuëòa, and other such esoterica. You demonstrated in practice how a devotee who loves Kåñëa strives against all opposition to establish His glories in this world. You did not care for reputation; you simply wanted to serve the order of your guru. Anyone who reads your books can readily understand that you are not at all sentimental, vague, or wishy-washy. You are a natural, unaffected saint, not an actor dancing according to the expectations of mindless people. Indeed, your profound compassion for the rebellious jévas often manifested as extraordinarily forceful attacks upon their foolishness and rascaldom.

Among the many transcendental characteristics that distinguish you as the jagad-guru (Kåñëa’s selected emissary to this world), in my mind one towers above all: your unmitigated, uncompromisable commitment to defeat the enemies of your beloved Kåñëa. You especially targeted the nirviçeña-vädés, who attempt to belittle Kåñëa by denying that He is categorically superior, in every respect, to all other living beings (nirviçeña literally means “not special”), who claim latent or already attained parity with Kåñëa, and whose mystic-sounding ambiguities are extolled as realized spirituality by persons so overwhelmingly insincere as to be attracted to such charlatans.

Srila Prabhupäda, that you left Våndävana to contest Mäyäväda amid the nastiness of America is a more convincing testimony to your love for Kåñëa than had you stayed in Våndävana. Your praëäma-mantra, composed by yourself,



describes what you considered to be the essence of your mission: service to Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté (särasvate deve) on this plane (bhü-tale) by preaching the message of Caitanya Mahäprabhu (gaura-väëé) and thus saving (täriëe) the Western countries (päçcätya-deça) from impersonalism and voidism (nirviçeña-çünyaväda). Such extraordinary activities could be performed only by a devotee who is exceptionally dear to Kåñëa (kåñëa-preñöha).

In accord with your mission, and pertinent to the arena and ethos of your service, you emphasized and exemplified more the need to fight for Kåñëa than to discuss His räsa-lélä. For me, one particular anecdote (narrated by Hayagréva Däsa in The Hare Krishna Explosion) encapsulates your intense devotion to Kåñëa as manifested in véra-rasa.

In 1966, during one of your classes at 26 Second Avenue, after you had criticized Dr. Radhakrishnan’s comment that it is not to the personal Kåñëa that we must surrender but to “the unborn, beginningless, eternal who speaks through Kåñëa,” you added, “This Mäyävädé philosophy is worse than atheism.” Thereupon Keith, the Mott Street denim-clad “guru” (later initiated as Kértanänanda Däsa), launched a long spiel in defense of Dr. Radhakrishnan and Mäyäväda. He rambled on about the “Self and the One Mind,” quoting Çaìkara and Huang Po, Buddha and Christ, Spinoza and St. Paul, while you, “Swamiji,” sat on the dais, your complexion turning red. After Keith finally wound down, you asked him:

“So, you have understood what we have been saying—that Kåñëa is God?”

“Yes,” Keith says.

“And that worship is due God?”

“Yes,” Keith says.

Suddenly Swamiji, red and furious, stands up. “Then why do you want to take it away from Kåñëa?” he roars, shaking the small storefront. “It’s Kåñëa! It’s Kåñëa!” He slams his hand down on the lectern. “It’s no unborn within Kåñëa! It’s Kåñëa!” We all sit stunned, as if a lion had pounced on the dais. “Kåñëa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is directly telling Arjuna, ‘To Me. Worship Me.’ And Dr. Radhakrishnan says that it is not to the person Kåñëa but to some void. Just see what a nonsense rascal! Do you want to worship some unborn void instead of Kåñëa? Kåñëa is the Absolute Truth. His body, mind, and self are absolute. And He says, ‘Think of Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me.’ And even Çaìkara says, bhaja govindaà, bhaja govindaà, bhaja govindam: ‘Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, worship Govinda. Your nonsense will not save you at death!’ And yet this rascal wants to take it away from Kåñëa. Do you want to follow such a rascal? Kåñëa says, ‘Worship Me.’ Do you not understand? Then why are you saying it is not to Kåñëa? Why? Why not to Kåñëa?” . . . .

(Next morning) “We are declaring war,” Swamiji says. “War on mäyä.”

Srila Prabhupäda, by declaring war in the storefront, you risked losing your fledgling flock, the only followers (if at that stage they could be considered followers) that you had after several months in America. But you could not brook Mäyäväda. And for that reason Kåñëa was to bless you most extraordinarily.

Srila Prabhupäda, please enlist me in your army, without an option to retire. I beg for the benediction to be eternally engaged in your mission. May I be prepared to go anywhere throughout the universe—tolerating the difficulties of heat, cold, hunger, thirst, unpopularity, persecution, or whatever the material energy may throw at me—always happy to follow your orders, knowing that by doing so, Kåñëa will be pleased, and that hence there is nothing better for me to do. Of course, words like these are easy to state yet difficult to fulfill. If I could actually pray in that way from within my heart and be unhesitatingly ready to do anything and everything to serve you under all circumstances, then I might qualify as your genuine servant.

Srila Prabhupäda, my words are insufficient to praise you or to in any way approximate a sufficient portrayal of your innumerable divine qualities. Even if I were millions of times more pure and intelligent, I could not sufficiently extol you, for your glories are immeasurable. Nonetheless, I offer this with love—which also is a gift that you nurtured within us. So kindly accept it. Please uplift me and bestow upon me the qualification to finally be accepted as your eternal servant.

The foolish

Bhakti Vikäsa Swami

HH.Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Offering to Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja, 2011

Spiritual strength and inspiration!

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 02:44 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, Australia, October 2011) Please spend time in the temple, because you will find spiritual strength and inspiration there!

Morning is for auspiciousness Posted: 23 Oct 2011 02:27 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, Australia, October 2011) If we read Lord Krishna's daily activities in the Bhagavatam or the Krishna book (of when He was in Dwarika) then we would find out by reading that Krishna would avoid inauspicious influences in the morning. Krishna would try to see only auspicious things – like a cow, or hear only auspicious things. He would mediate and give to charity in the morning. The whole idea was that the morning was reserved for auspiciousness. How different is the worldly lifestyle, where people drink a cup of coffee and place it on the top of the newspaper, which is on the table – like that and possibly smoke at the same time! Or maybe have some breakfast at the other corner of the paper, and in between the horrible news! So they have un-offered foodstuff and get sinful reactions in what they eat, and throw some intoxication on top…………….and meanwhile pollute the mind with the newspaper…………..and that's normal and all over in India…..that's everywhere. So that is their morning. But for the devotee it is different. In the morning there is auspicious sound vibration, and in that way by hearing auspicious sounds, by reciting, by chanting every morning we are purified! And this is required because that will give us the strength to deal with the three modes of material nature!

KKSblog.com - Spiritual strength and inspiration!

The Supreme Lord is all pervading,existing everywhere,acting as a
witness for all our activities. In this world an object can be at one
place at a certain point of time but it cant be at two places at the
same time. But the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna is simultaneously present
in the Spiritual world as well as in the material world as a single
person. This aspect of the Lord can be understood only by devotees of
the Lord performing pure Devotional Service to Him.
To understand an object x,we need to study the features of the object.
Similarly to understand the Supreme we should also know the qualities
of the Lord.

In this way the devotees are never lose Krishna and Krishna never
loses His devotees. Krishna sees all our activities. He is within our
soul as well as outside the soul. There's no place where He's not
present.
When mother Yashoda,heard the complaints from Krsna's friends,she
decided to punish Him for His good.And so she asked Krsna if he had
eaten sand. Krsna lied and mother Yashoda, asked Him to open His
mouth. Krsna could not refuse opening His mouth because she would
scold.
When He opened the mouth,the Aishwarya shakti automatically worked to
show the whole Universe within His mouth. Even though Krsna can be
very affectionate with His devotees,He can also show His powers at
times and He doesnt have to even think about arranging all these.His
energies themselves are potent to carry out the pastimes.

So in this way,the Lord showed all that is outside within His mouth.
But mother Yashoda could also see all the planets,sun,mountains and
finally she herself seeing into the mouth of Krsna. How does The whole
Universe can be inside Krsna and How mother Yashoda could bear all
that when Krsna had all the universes within His mouth.This is
difficult to understand for the conditioned souls.But this is the
biggest difference between the soul and the Supreme Lord&this is why
the Lord is worshipable&the goal.

Arjuna was also shown the universal form but He lost the friendship
mood for a while after seeing the universal form&started offering His
respects. But mother Yashoda did not get affected to think that Krsna is Supreme Lord,because it will not allow her to enjoy the loving relation toKrsna. She thought that some demons are troubling or she is dreaming Universe to be in Krsna's mouth.

Notes from HH.Bhanu Swami Lecture SB&BG, Sunday Feast Chennai, 23rd, October 2011
--

Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com

Out&In there's no place where You are not in!

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• The body is a temple
• Krishna owns everything!
• Being active

The body is a temple Posted: 20 Oct 2011 04:01 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, Australia, October 2011) When we are marking the body with tilak in twelve different places, it is said that the meaning of the tilak is that the body is a temple. It is not only that the body is a temple – we are actually installing deities: "Om Keśavāya namaḥ," And in twelve directions we are installing twelve deities of Visnu. So literally, the body is a temple, when we are wearing tilak. So what auspiciousness is this movement offering to us? Therefore, early in the morning when we rise we put tilak on. Even if we get up late, and we have five minutes only before we go to work, we can wear tilak for five minutes – that is auspicious. In other words we must try to fix ourselves in this new identity!

Krishna owns everything! Posted: 20 Oct 2011 03:43 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, Australia,October 2011) Everything in this world belongs to Krishna, including our bodies, our children and all of our possessions. Therefore, everything is meant to be used for Krishna. Of course, we ourselves also need to live – we need a residence for shelter, we need to eat and so on, but we are doing that all on behalf of Krishna: "yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ" (Bg3.13). One should only eat 'yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ'- remnants that has been offered to the Lord! Only that which is left over from 'yajña', no other things a devotee will take! It is said that otherwise one will get involved in sinful reactions! Because whatever is the consciousness of the cook, will affect whatever he has eaten and subsequently it will affect our consciousness. Thus new material desires will be born! Therefore, we are careful in our eating, that in our house is Krishna's house! In that house we are only doing things that are favourable to Krishna!

Being active Posted: 20 Oct 2011 10:27 AM PDT … It was the marathon and there was one devotee, whose name was Purusottama, he was so fired up that he would start sleep walking and in his sleep he started to distribute books! So he would shake you while you was sleeping and try to sell you a book! And the only way to go back to sleep right away was to buy it! You can understand…he won the marathon! There's no way to compete with somebody like that. But he got the mercy by being active. So devotional service is active, it's not passive. It's not just passively looking at how to receive the mercy. We become active and the more active one becomes the more mercy. And the more one becomes absorbed, then the smaller the material world becomes… (Kadamba Kanana aharaja, October 2011, Melbourne, Australia)

KKSblog.com - The body is a temple

Bhagavad-gita As It Is | Part [BG.11.40] 

(Purport to 11.54 continued) 

One who has unflinching devotion for the Supreme Lord and is directed by the spiritual master, in whom he has similar unflinching faith, can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead by revelation. One cannot understand Krishna by mental speculation. For one who does not take personal training under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, it is impossible to even begin to understand Krishna. The word tu is specifically used here to indicate that no other process can be used, can be recommended, or can be successful in understanding Krishna.

 

The personal forms of Krishna, the two-handed form and the four-handed, are completely different from the temporary universal form shown to Arjuna. The four-handed form of Narayana and the two-handed form of Krishna are eternal and transcendental, whereas the universal form exhibited to Arjuna is temporary. The very word sudurdarsam, meaning "difficult to see," suggests that no one had seen that universal form. It also suggests that amongst the devotees there was no necessity of showing it. That form was exhibited by Krishna at the request of Arjuna so that in the future, when one represents himself as an incarnation of God, people can ask to see his universal form.

 

The word na, used repeatedly in the previous verse, indicates that one should not be very much proud of such credentials as an academic education in Vedic literature. One must take to the devotional service of Krishna. Only then can one attempt to write commentaries on Bhagavad-gita.

Krishna changes from the universal form to the four-handed form of Narayana and then to His own natural form of two hands. This indicates that the four-handed forms and other forms mentioned in Vedic literature are all emanations of the original two-handed Krishna. He is the origin of all emanations. Krishna is distinct even from these forms, what to speak of the impersonal conception. As far as the four-handed forms of Krishna are concerned, it is stated clearly that even the most identical four-handed form of Krishna (which is known as Maha-Vishnu, who is lying on the cosmic ocean and from whose breathing so many innumerable universes are passing out and entering) is also an expansion of the Supreme Lord. As stated in the Brahma-samhita (5.48),

 

yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-vila-ja jagad-anda-nathah
vishnur mahan sa iha yasya kala-visesho
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami

 

"The Maha-Vishnu, into whom all the innumerable universes enter and from whom they come forth again simply by His breathing process, is a plenary expansion of Krishna. Therefore I worship Govinda, Krishna, the cause of all causes." Therefore one should conclusively worship the personal form of Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead who has eternal bliss and knowledge. He is the source of all forms of Vishnu, He is the source of all forms of incarnation, and He is the original Supreme Personality, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita.

Translation and commentary by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
 


--
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com

The Supreme Personality of Godhead can be seen only by His own revelation [BG.11.40]

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Stricter than strict Posted: 19 Oct 2011 01:31 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Helsinki, Finland, 2011) Vedic culture is sometimes very rigid in following rules and regulations. Especially nowadays, they do not even know why. The main reason why many Hindus are becoming Christians is because their elders are enforcing all these things, and they can't say why. It's like stricter than strict………because India has been ruled by the smarta-brahmanas for a very long time. The smarta-brahmanas are particularly into following all rules and regulations. They have imposed upon society with so many rules and regulations. So everyone is just following someone: " No…no…. no, you cannot drink like this! No…no…no you cannot do it at all!" So there is excessive stress on following rules and regulations, in India due to thousands of years of smarta-brahmanas. So this excessive attachment to rules and regulations that is existing in India. But on the other hand, in the vaisnava culture, we are also careful of maya. So there is strictness…..strictness is needed, because we are afraid of maya….so we are strict. So it is difficult to understand exactly the borderline….it takes time to understand in depth the distinction between vaisnava culture and vedic culture.

Making a commitment Posted: 19 Oct 2011 01:18 PM PDT (Kadamba Kanana Swami, Helsinki, Finland, 2011) A vaisnava must be honest even if that honesty is to his own disadvantage – he should not sacrifice it. He should publicly just maintain his honesty, and like that a vaisnava should stand for integrity. In the beginning devotional service is based on what you do, and as time is continuing it's not just what you are doing but also who you are, that is becoming important………more and more it becomes who you are! That we have to become saintly personalities! It starts with commitments…………you have to make commitments. We have to start making commitments to certain things: 'Ok I am making a commitment to rise early, whether I am tired or not; I am making a commitment to be truthful; I am making a commitment to be tolerant; I am making a commitment to be clean.' So gradually by making all these commitments, we are making a change, and in that way we are building our integrity!

KKSblog.com - Stricter than strict

Radha Madhava Collection

Sri Sri Prema Bhakti Candrika

Narottam Das Thakur

Once a high ranking government official (Judge) stayed in Ambika Kalna in West Bengal for a few days to perform some duties. At that time Siddha Sri Bhagavan das Babaji Maharaja was still manifest in this world. Having heard about Siddha Baba's glories from the local residents, the judge went at once to see him. When Siddha Baba saw him coming he asked why he had come, and the judge said,  "Baba! Tell me how to prema bhakti can be achieved!"

Siddha Baba immediately said, "Prema bhakti can be purchased for only two anas (a very small amount of money in colonial India at that time)!"

When the judge heard these words of Siddha Baba he was a little shaken and said, "Baba! Why are you joking with me?"

Siddha Baba replied with determination, "It's not a joke– for two anas you can buy Srila Narottama Thakura Mahasaya's Prema Bhakti Candrika in Calcutta's Bata-tala. Always read this and you will attain prema bhakti."

This is actually a true story.  And the judge completely took the words of Siddha Baba seriously and purchased a copy of Prema Bhakti Candrika. By the strength of Siddha Baba's order and because of his service to Sri Prema Bhakti Candrika which he constantly recited, he had a complete change of heart. The judge lost all interest in his job and began to stay at home reading Prema Bhakti Candrika with love and attachment. Because he gave up his job his so-called family members lost interest in him and he also became disinterested in them and his home. He began to wander and beg alms to feed himself all the while lovingly reading Prema Bhakti Candrika and offering everything to Sri Krishna. Everyone thought he was insane because of his sudden and drastic change of behavior, but he actually became siddha himself and achieved Krishna-prema through the recitation of Prema Bhakti Candrika on the order of Siddha Bhagavan Das Babaji.

Sri Radharaman Charan Das Dev questioned his guru, Nityananda Vamsh Prabhupad Yogendranath Goswami about the sastras. His guru told him that of all the sastras four are sufficient for acheiving the goal of Krishna-prema and Prema Bhakti Candrika was one of the four books on the list. The very first shloka I ever heard from the lips of my gurudeva was from Sri Prema Bhakti Candrika. He had just given me diksha and was explaining to me the immense power of chanting  (Bhaja) Nitai Gaura Radhey Shyam (Japa) Hare Krishna Hare Ram and told me that I would experience many wonders while chanting it and I should keep those wonders to myself. It's easy to guess which verse he quoted:

Apana bhajana kathA, nA kohibo yathA tathA
ihAte hoibo sAvadhAna (119)

"I will be cautious and not reveal my bhajana realisations here and there. "

Among the many teachings and recommendations of Sri Jagadbandhu Sundar Prabhu he advised the one should put the entire Prema Bhakti Candrika to memory. That is how precious he found the teachings of Thakur Mahasaya to be.

So the importance of Sri Sri Prema Bhakti Candrika cannot be overestimated. In fact, some very good arguments can be made that this is the single most valuable grantha for the sadhakas of the Caitanya Vaisnava tradition.

The painting of Sri Thakur Mahasay came from Sripat Gambhila. This is the birthplace of his dear disciple Sri Ganganarayan Chakravarty. Gambhila is also the place where Thakur Mahasay ended his manifest lila while entering the Ganges.

narottama boDo duHkI, nAtha! more koro sukhI,
tomAra bhajana saGkIrtane
antarAya nAhi yAy, ei to parama bhaya,
nivedana kori anukSaNa (39)

"Narottama is greatly unhappy. O Natha! Make me happy by allowing me to perform bhajan and do sankirtan of your Names! The greatest fear I have is that my bad habits and material attachments will not leave me, so I pray to You at every moment for your mercy."

The image of Sri Narottam Das Thakur was the courtesy of Nityananda Janmasthan from Dhimahi 2007

The Moonlight of Loving Devotion

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 15.7

mamaivāḿśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

SYNONYMS

mama — My; eva — certainly; aḿśaḥ — fragmental particle; jīva-loke — in the world of conditional life; jīva-bhūtaḥ — the conditioned living entity; sanātanaḥ — eternal; manaḥ — with the mind; ṣaṣṭhāni — the six; indriyāṇi — senses; prakṛti — in material nature; sthāni — situated; karṣati — is struggling hard.

TRANSLATION

The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.

PURPORT

In this verse the identity of the living being is clearly given. The living entity is the fragmental part and parcel of the Supreme Lord — eternally. It is not that he assumes individuality in his conditional life and in his liberated state becomes one with the Supreme Lord. He is eternally fragmented. It is clearly said, sanātanaḥ. According to the Vedic version, the Supreme Lord manifests and expands Himself in innumerable expansions, of which the primary expansions are called viṣṇu-tattva and the secondary expansions are called the living entities. In other words, the viṣṇu-tattva is the personal expansion, and the living entities are the separated expansions. By His personal expansion, He is manifested in various forms like Lord Rāma, Nṛsiḿhadeva, Viṣṇumūrti and all the predominating Deities in the Vaikuṇṭha planets. The separated expansions, the living entities, are eternally servitors. The personal expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the individual identities of the Godhead, are always present. Similarly, the separated expansions of living entities have their identities. As fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, the living entities also have fragmental portions of His qualities, of which independence is one. Every living entity, as an individual soul, has his personal individuality and a minute form of independence. By misuse of that independence one becomes a conditioned soul, and by proper use of independence he is always liberated. In either case, he is qualitatively eternal, as the Supreme Lord is. In his liberated state he is freed from this material condition, and he is under the engagement of transcendental service unto the Lord; in his conditioned life he is dominated by the material modes of nature, and he forgets the transcendental loving service of the Lord. As a result, he has to struggle very hard to maintain his existence in the material world.

The living entities, not only human beings and the cats and dogs, but even the greater controllers of the material world — Brahmā, Lord Śiva and even Viṣṇu — are all parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. They are all eternal, not temporary manifestations. The word karṣati ("struggling" or "grappling hard") is very significant. The conditioned soul is bound up, as though shackled by iron chains. He is bound up by the false ego, and the mind is the chief agent which is driving him in this material existence. When the mind is in the mode of goodness, his activities are good; when the mind is in the mode of passion, his activities are troublesome; and when the mind is in the mode of ignorance, he travels in the lower species of life. It is clear, however, in this verse, that the conditioned soul is covered by the material body, with the mind and the senses, and when he is liberated this material covering perishes, but his spiritual body manifests itself in its individual capacity. The following information is there in the Mādhyandināyana-śruti: sa vā eṣa brahma-niṣṭha idaḿ śarīraḿ martyam atisṛjya brahmābhisampadya brahmaṇā paśyati brahmaṇā śṛṇoti brahmaṇaivedaḿ sarvam anubhavati. It is stated here that when a living entity gives up this material embodiment and enters into the spiritual world, he revives his spiritual body, and in his spiritual body he can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face. He can hear and speak to Him face to face, and he can understand the Supreme Personality as He is. From smṛti also it is understood, vasanti yatra puruṣāḥ sarve vaikuṇṭha-mūrtayaḥ: in the spiritual planets everyone lives in bodies featured like the Supreme Personality of Godhead's. As far as bodily construction is concerned, there is no difference between the part-and-parcel living entities and the expansions of viṣṇu-mūrti. In other words, at liberation the living entity gets a spiritual body by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The words mamaivāḿśaḥ ("fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord") are also very significant. The fragmental portion of the Supreme Lord is not like some material broken part. We have already understood in the Second Chapter that the spirit cannot be cut into pieces. This fragment is not materially conceived. It is not like matter, which can be cut into pieces and joined together again. That conception is not applicable here, because the Sanskrit word sanātana ("eternal") is used. The fragmental portion is eternal. It is also stated in the beginning of the Second Chapter that in each and every individual body the fragmental portion of the Supreme Lord is present (dehino 'smin yathā dehe). That fragmental portion, when liberated from the bodily entanglement, revives its original spiritual body in the spiritual sky in a spiritual planet and enjoys association with the Supreme Lord. It is, however, understood here that the living entity, being the fragmental part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, is qualitatively one with the Lord, just as the parts and parcels of gold are also gold.

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Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com

Due to conditioned life, My eternal fragmental parts are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind-BG#15.7