may love, beauty, and truth prevail over all
An inspiring example of father following son: an interview with Raghunandan Prabhu of Olgiate Molgora, Italy.
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Photo: Raghunanda Prabhu stands with his son Madhurananda Prabhu, daughter Krishna Sakhi Devi Dasi, son-in-law Rituraj Prabhu, and grandson Sundar in the gardens of Villa Govinda Ashram.
It is necessary to jump in any way with our full energy and hankering for a connection with the transcendental wave.
Once Guru Mahārāj questioned someone, “Is Īśvar existing or not, is God existing or not?” And that person, a sādhu, maybe a paramahaṁsa sādhu, responded, “You are not seeing God? He is existing everywhere.” We heard this question’s answer from Guru Mahārāj. The transcendental wave is always flowing in this material world. We have a transcendental body, but it is covered by illusion. Moving or non-moving, there is life everywhere. It is proved by the scientists now. We have also heard from some sculptors that they give two kinds of certificate to stone: one certificate is dead stone, one is living stone. When we were making a building in Nabadwīp, we purchased stone for some stonework, and I saw that there were different rates. I asked the man that I purchased from, “You are saying four thousand per lorry, and he is saying three thousand six hundred per lorry.” “Oh, that is dead stone, dead stone!” I know about dead stone and living stone, but how did he know? That was my surprise.
Now science is proceeding to the philosophical world. I heard from Guru Mahārāj that the wife of Einstein asked him, “What are you now trying to discover?” and Einstein answered, “After five hundred years, you and I will be able to talk, just like we are speaking now. I want to make that kind of discovery.” Guru Mahārāj told this.
Then science is proceeding so far, but without the mood of submission it cannot touch the transcendental wave in any way. It is not possible. But it is very good news that so many scientists have joined with our Mission, and every year they are making seminars in different places about this knowledge. ‘Science and Religion’: when Pusta Kṛṣṇa came here last time he joined that meeting in Salt Lake City, Kolkata. So many scientists are with us, and they are researching still about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the situation.
It is necessary to jump in any way with our full energy and hankering for a connection with the transcendental wave. And it is a very appropriate time, because it is Kali Yuga. We know that there are so many disturbances and so many obstacles in this age. Only Harinām-saṅkīrtan can give us a good result by connecting us with the transcendental divine form of the Lord.
Śabda (sound), sparśāḥ (touch), rūpa (sight), rasa (taste), gandha (smell)—all the qualities in the material world are existing in a refined and positive way in the transcendental world. The transcendental sound vibration form of the Lord is called Harinām. It is very easy to believe, because now ether is connecting the whole world, and beyond this universe also. Now we are doing email, we are doing telephone, we are doing television. We are visiting many things through television. The carrier, the bearer, is ether. If it is possible in this material world, and we are actually a part of the transcendental world, then our spiritual connection must also be activated.
uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prapyo varān nibodhata
(Kaṭha Upaniṣad: 1.3.14)
“Awake, arise, and get your property. You are the sons of nectar, of the nectarean ocean. Then why are you sleeping and dreaming that a tiger has attacked you, and crying?”
It is actually a kind of dream. A tiger has not attacked us, but we are dreaming that a tiger has attacked us and crying very loudly in bed. But our friend who is near will not take a stick or a gun, he will go and touch me, and will tell, “Oh, wake up, wake up!”
śṛṇvantu viṣve amṛtasya putrā
(Śvetāṣvatara Upaniṣad: 2.5)
“Awake and arise, oh sons of nectar.” This is the call of the Upaniṣads. “You are the sons of nectar.” This is written on the cover of the book The Search for Sri Krishna. This is the clarion call.
uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prapyo varān nibodhata
kṣurasya dhārā niśitā duratyaya
[durgaṁ pathas tat kavayo vadanti]
(Kaṭha-upaniṣad: 1.3.14)
[“Arise! Awake! Try to understand the boon that you now have in this human form of life. The path of spiritual realization is very difficult; it is sharp like a razor’s edge. That is the opinion of learned transcendental scholars.”]
Srila Gurudev speaking in Italy during his visit in September 2000
An ant will always search for where the hole is. That is the nature of an ant, but we are not ants, we are bees and we must try to search for where the ecstasy is.
pipīlikā paśyati maṇi mandire chidra
An ant will always search for where the hole is. That is the nature of an ant, but we are not ants, we are bees and we must try to search for where the ecstasy is. There are many fault searchers, many drain inspectors, but we are not drain inspectors. Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said this many times. They are always searching for where is the hole, where is the fault, but we are not like that. We must search for where is the ecstasy of Kṛṣṇa-prema and Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Where is our life’s goal, that we must search. And if we search then we can see that our master is also searching for us. My master is also searching for me. That is the loving search for the lost servant. Guru Maharaj gave that heading to one of our books: “Loving Search for the Lost Servant.” It is a simple expression, but very wide meaning is there. It is not only that I am anxious, but my Lord is also very anxious to get my association.
I have seen one painting of Kṛṣṇa embracing the devotee, and I was surprised to see how the devotee depicted this idea. That painting is very perfect. Kṛṣṇa is embracing His devotee and they have both fainted. That is the real loving search for the lost servant.
Many things come through great personalities in this mundane world, and we are a part of that. Now we will try with our best, and I shall do what is possible by me.
I am very happy with you all. And I am also feeling very fortunate because I always have some engagement with the service of Guru Mahārāj and the service of the devotees. In that way also sometimes sleep is not coming: I am always thinking about how something can be done, how it will be possible, and many things. But the feeling is very nice. When Kṛṣṇa will take my every drop of blood, at that time I must feel I am satisfied. Those feelings must come to everybody. If they will think, they must come. It is not the property of a sannyasi or a brahmachari or a grhastha or vanaprastha. It is the property of a devotee. Who is devoted, it is his property.
Srila Gurudev speaking in March 1991, in Govardhan.
An exclusive, informal, and in-depth interview with Swami Bhakti Ranjan Madhusudan about his appreciation for Srila Gurudev.
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Your own realisation, your own research, everything, you leave it. What you are doing through your knowledge, that you leave. It may be your knowledge and it may be others’ knowledge that you are eating and vomiting, that is not a factor. But what is the fundamental basis? Namanta eva jīvanti: to fully surrender and live with sravan-kirtan.
You can find a full transcript and audio recording of this talk here.
jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
ye prāyaśo ’jita jito ’py asi tais tri-lokyām
[“In whatever position they may be, those who give up the endeavour for knowledge, surrender to the sadhus, and dedicate their lives bodily, verbally, and mentally to their talks of the Lord, can conquer the Lord, who is otherwise unconquerable.”]
At this sloka Mahaprabhu said, “Eho haya, āge kaha āra. Yes, it is in the line and the fundamental basis is here.” What basis? Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya: first, what property you have, leave that. That is knowledge. Your own realisation, your own research, everything, you leave it. What you are doing through your knowledge, that you leave. It may be your knowledge and it may be others’ knowledge that you are eating and vomiting, that is not a factor. But what is the fundamental basis? Namanta eva jīvanti: to fully surrender and live with sravan-kirtan. That is the main thing. San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām means kirtan and sravan. Sthāne sthitāḥ: anywhere. Śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir: kaya, physically; mana, mentally; vākya, verbally. That is the main fundamental basis.
This type of question came when Guru Maharaj was searching for his Guru, “Where is my Guru, where is my Guru?” He went to Pranavananda Swami at the Bharat Seva Ashram Sangha and he asked him, “I know that you are not my Guru, but can you say where my Guru is?” And Pranavananda told to Guru Maharaj, “First go to Shankaracharya in jnana-marga; then yoga marga; and then go to bhakti-marga. Bhakti marga is superior, no doubt, but first it is necessary to follow karma, jnana, yoga—and then bhakti. That is also indicated in Gita externally. Then you do that.”
Guru Maharaj told Pranavananda, “But Mahaprabhu did not say, ‘First become a karmi, then become a jnani, then become a yogi, and then go to bhakti-yoga.’ Mahaprabhu did not say that and scripture also did not say that. Then why are you saying this? Bhakti-yoga is the starting point and bhakti-yoga is end. There is nothing in the middle.” Guru Maharaj gave this answer to Pranavananda, who is the founder president of Bharat Seva Ashram Sangha.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said the instruction sarva-dharmān parityajya Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (“Give up all dharma and surrender to me exclusively”—Bg 18.66) was external, bahya, and told Ramananda Ray, “I want to hear the deeper and deepest conception about Krishna consciousness from you.” One by one Ramananda gave different conceptions and Mahaprabhu rejected them. Then when Ramananda said the verse Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva Mahaprabhu said, “Eho haya, āge kaha āra: yes, it is okay, but say more than that; you proceed on.”
Bhakti-yoga starts with the mood of surrender and immediately starting practising life with sravan and kirtan. That is Mahaprabhu’s line: immediately you surrender and get up and do sravan and kirtan.
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
Jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām means, hear the divine glories of Lord Krishna from the proper channel. Not everyone is expert in glorifying properly. According to their mentality persons can glorify in a particular way, but proper glorification will come from the proper personality. And if you are fortunate, then you will get the opportunity to hear from them. We will hear from the great saints, sadhus, but here is a question: does sadhu means saffron cloth? That is not mentioned in the scriptures. Sadhu means sat, and sat means who can understand sachchidananda. He is a sadhu. Only sat is not good. Good, but not good. It is sufficient. But where there is chinmayananda, where there is the transcendental feelings and transcendental joyful presentation, there you will feel that this is a sadhu. That may be a brahmachari, may be a grhastha, may be a vanaprastha, may be a sannyasi, may be an antyaja, may be a mlechcha.
In this material world we make some standard for peace: “You will not disturb my family, and I shall not disturb your family.” These are the rules and regulations. Scriptural rules and regulations are like that, but they are always mixed with some religious theistic mentality. They are not atheistic in any way, they are always theistic. But the proper guideline is that devotion to Lord Krishna is final. Guru Maharaj said very clearly in Prapanna-jivanamrta book what is saranagati, what is surrender. What I said just now: first surrender, and then come out with your practising life.
Srila Guru Maharaj gave the meaning of surrender:
bhagavad-bhaktitaḥ sarvam ity utsṛjya vidher api
kaiṅkaryaṁ kṛṣṇa-pādaikāśrayatvaṁ śaraṇāgatiḥ
[“Having faith that everything is attained by devotion to the Supreme Lord, abandoning subservience to even scriptural injunctions, and taking shelter of Sri Krishna’s feet exclusively is known as saranagati.”]
This is written in Prapanna-jivanamrta. “Everything will be fulfilled, even scriptural advice you can avoid, but everything will be fulfilled by surrender to Sri Krishna. If you keep this knowledge fully with you everything will be successful through that.”
This kind of faith is described with an example given in Srimad Bhagavat:
yathā taror mūla-niṣechanena
tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ
prāṇopahārāch cha yathendriyāṇāṁ
tathaiva sarvārhaṇam achyutejyā
(4.31.14)
When we put water at the root of a tree, the whole tree is getting nourishment through that water. Like that, when we are putting our devotion to Lord Krishna then everything becomes very peaceful and happy. There is no question of who is Indra, who is Chandra, who is Varun, who is Brahma—it is not necessary to search because when I give my devotion to Krishna everyone gets that, in the same way that if the root of tree gets water then the whole tree gets nourishment. Krishna-bhakti is supreme. We must have devotion to Lord Krishna with full faith: full faith, this is the main thing. It is not necessary to calculate how much percentage I shall give here, how much percentage I shall give there.
I remember when I joined in this mission I came to Srila Guru Maharaj’s lotus feet and Guru Maharaj was happy to see my activity. But Guru Maharaj questioned me: “You joined my mission, that is okay, but can you follow me?” And I said, “Yes.” At that time my habit was to say, ‘Yes.’ In my life I did not say, ‘No’, but always ‘Yes.’ So when Guru Maharaj asked me, “Can you follow me?” I said, “Yes.” “No, no, not like that. What I shall tell you, you will follow, and what you know, you will leave that knowledge. Can you do that?” I said “Yes.” With the service of Guru Maharaj so many questions come, but I don’t care for that. What Guru Maharaj’s order is, I am doing that. That was my nature at that time. I had that inspiration and I have got a very, very good result with that: “If Guru Maharaj wants it, bas, sufficient, no question is there.”
Related reading:
Surrendered Service
When Adam and Eve were in a surrendered position, no labour was necessary. Everything was automatic. The soul, the spiritual, eternal body, does not require any food to maintain itself. There is no necessity of any addition from the outside to keep up the vitality there, in the surrendered life of the pure spiritual soul.
You can find the full audio recording and transcript of this talk here
Satan’s opinion is that it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. But it is just the opposite: it is better to serve in heaven than to reign in hell. It is the opposite of the satanic doctrine. ‘Paradise Lost’: because they lost their faith in sharanagati, surrender, in the truth of surrender. That was disturbed, and they came to live with their freedom and free judgement; Adam and Eve had to come down to the world of calculation of one’s self, of one’s individual free will, of their own responsibility. Then they had to earn and eat, enjoy. We have come to the world of ‘earn and enjoy’. Earn and enjoy, labour and live. It is the world of labour and live.
There [in heaven], without labour, sustenance is to come. When Adam and Eve were in a surrendered position, no labour was necessary. Everything was automatic. The soul, the spiritual, eternal body, does not require any food to maintain itself. There is no necessity of any addition from the outside to keep up the vitality there, in the surrendered life of the pure spiritual soul. When free choice came, instead of the surrendered stage, then they had to enter the world of labour and live. And Satan was at the back, “Why are you a slave?”
Srimad Bhagavat has discarded knowledge: “Don’t rely on your knowledge.” The fruit of the tree of knowledge was tasted by Eve first, and then Adam. The tree of knowledge is dangerous, and brought them down to the world of calculation here. But surrender brings one to the good man’s society, the higher society where there is no deception, no hypocrisy, no conspiracy. There, knowledge, calculation, good, bad, all these are meaningless there. There is an automatic flow of goodness in the atmosphere, and no doubt, no suspicion, no meanness to cheat one another. So there is no question of calculation.
That is in the lower part of Vaikuntha, and it is again higher in Goloka. In Goloka it is more beautiful, more loving, more sustaining, more sweet and ecstatic. We want to have practical faith in the charm of that sort of life.
sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaranaṁ vraja
In the Bible there is the history of the fall, and ‘going up’ is not very expressively presented there. The son of God has come to take them again up there, and that is vague. The fall of Adam and Eve is very clear. But that one man is taken from this plane to that plane is not such a very explicit or clear history.
Who is there like Christ, that has such full faith in God’s land, God’s action, God’s goodness that they can treat the wealth, the prosperity, the charm of this world of enjoyment as something to trample under their feet? “I resign all covetable posts in this world, whatever they may be: a kingship, a leadership, a lover like Romeo, a beloved like Juliet. All are dismissed. I am ready to dismiss all these things, for some higher, mystic unknown, for a sweet, sweet life and a sweet, sweet home. I have finished with everything else.”
Srila B.R. Sridhar Maharaj speaking on 2 January 1983, in Sri Nabadwip Dham.
You can find the full audio recording and transcript of this talk here
Photo: Domenico Cunego: The Original Sin and The Banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. After Michelangelo’s fresco.
Between October 2014 and July 2017, in poor health and with insufficient funds, but with a strong desire to satisfy Sri Guru, Damodar Prabhu of Sao Paulo, Brazil boldly demolished his family home and built a beautiful temple in its place. In this in-depth interview Damodar Prabhu also speaks about his beginnings in Krishna consciousness, challenges faced in service life, and the special relationship he had with His Holiness Sripad B.V. Tapasvi Maharaj (Bhuvan Mohan Prabhu).
1 hour mp3 audio file
Portuguese and English with translation by Raseswari Devi Dasi.
Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī’s style was very peaceful. Mahāprabhu chose Rūpa Goswāmī as the leader of His sampradaya, and so there is special honour for Rūpa Goswāmī. Śrīla Sanātan Goswāmī was very busy in Vṛndāvan, but Rūpa Goswāmī Prabhu was not so busy like Sanātan Goswāmī. Śrīla Dās Goswāmī was following Rūpa Goswāmī. Dās Goswāmī was also a shy-natured man. And Śrīla Jīva Goswāmī was exalted with his quality and qualification, both. He was a great fighter for the sampradāya. Śrīla Prabhupād Saraswatī Goswāmī’s nature was like Jīva Goswāmī.
Śrīla Guru Mahārāj’s nature was something like Jīva Goswāmī, and something like Rūpa Goswāmī. Guru Mahārāj liked to fight, that was his nature. Anywhere that any fighting was going on, he was the first to go there. Once Guru Mahārāj was sick in Badarik Ashram, and with Guru Mahārāj was a qualified party: they were big pandits with different types of qualifications, like Sanskrit. A paṇḍit come and debated with our paṇḍits while Guru Mahārāj was in the next room, sick with pneumonia. But our paṇḍits could not control that visiting paṇḍit. Then Guru Mahārāj sat up in his bed and said, “Who is talking, bring him to me.” They went to Guru Mahārāj’s room, and that man took an atheistic position for debating with Guru Mahārāj, but seeing the face of Guru Mahārāj, and hearing only one śloka from Guru Mahārāj, he fell down at his lotus feet.
That paṇḍit asked, “What is the proof that the ātmā exists? Is there any proof?” And Guru Mahārāj immediately told that man,
ātmāparijñāna-mayo vivādo
hy astīti nāstīti bhidārtha-niṣṭhaḥ
[vyartho ’pi naivoparameta puṁsāṁ
mattaḥ parāvṛtta-dhiyāṁ sva-lokāt]
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.34)
[The speculative argument of philosophers — “This world is real,” “No, it is not real” — is based upon incomplete knowledge of the Supreme Soul and is simply aimed at understanding material dualities. Although such argument is useless, persons who have turned their attention away from Me, their own true Self, are unable to give it up.]
That man was shocked to hear this, because he knew that śloka, he confessed. He took the feet of Guru Mahārāj, “Mahārāj, the answer is coming timely to you, not to me. This is the difference from you and me. I do not want to debate with you.” He was a great paṇḍit, but he surrendered to Guru Mahārāj.
ātmāparijñāna-mayo vivādo hy astīti nāstīti
“It is existing or not?” This type of question always comes, but we are all seeing that it is existing. When the body dies, the spirit goes out from the body and the body is spoiled. What better example can you give than this? Within the body was a kind of spirit, and when it goes from the body, within three days it will be spoiled and gas will come from that body. It is proved, but still they are asking, “It is or not?”
Everywhere we see the quality and qualification of ātmā, in everything we see the presence of ātmā. I am talking with you, you are intelligent, I am also intelligent, and we are both talking diplomatically about everything; who is doing that? Who is the diplomat living inside? You want to defeat me, and I want to defeat you, but in which way, and who is holding that brain? And when it is going out from the body everything is useless. There will be only insects, and nothing else inside. After three days you will only get insects growing there.
Spoken by Srila Gurudev during his visit to Italy in September 2000
You have come to fight as a soldier, to save your country, or your people, or your honor. What your environment is, that does not depend on your whim. It may appear in any way, but you have to face that. However complex the battlefield may be, as a soldier you are to approach that. Otherwise you have no real faith in your own cause.
Sri Vaishnava Toshani, Sep–Oct 1993, Vol 2 #3 is presented here.
pdf edition
ePub edition
Contents:
Beyond All Rituals
by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
The Environment Is Your Friend
by His Divine Grace B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj
We Have Something Very Special
by His Holiness B.P. Janardan Maharaj
Mahaprabhu’s Divine Succession
by His Divine Grace B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami, President Acharya
We Can Get Everything Through Love
by His Holiness B.S. Tridandi Maharaj
Our Saint From Above Visits Down-Under
by His Grace Mohanananda Das, World Tour Coordinator
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Ashram Comes To Santa Cruz
by Sriman Hasyapriya Das
Sweet Distribution
by Sriman Mathuranath Das
Nourishing The Creeper
by Dinadhama Srutasrava Das
Previous editions uploaded:
Jan–Feb 1992 Vol 1 No 1
March–April 1992 Vol 1 No 2
May–June 1992 Vol 1 No 3
Nov–Dec 1992, Vol 1 #6
May–June 1993, Vol 2 #2
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After years of extreme drug and alcohol addiction Hriday Govinda Prabhu left it all behind to embrace a life of exclusive service and dedication. He shares his heart-touching story in this interview.
“Where my parents failed, where the counsellors and the teachers, and the police officers failed and where I even failed myself because I was powerless, Krishna consciousness was the only thing with the potency to pull me from that muck and so now I owe it my life. I wouldn’t have a life without it. I have to give everything.”