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At the age of only nineteen, Radhanath Swami left his home in America seeking adventure and spiritual knowledge. After trekking across Europe for months, Radhanath Swami reached his long hoped for destination: India. After living there for many years as a sadhu or wandering monk, Radhanath Swami returned to America in order to share the sacred knowledge and wisdom he had learned from the many holy men and women he had met there. It was an extraordinary choice, given what Radhanath Swami had survived to get there: a journey filled with bizarre characters, mystical experiences, and dangerous adventures. The story is recounted in his recently published memoir The Journey Home - Autobiography of an American Swami. Reviewers have called Radhanath Swami's saga "at once an engaging yarn, a love story, and the evocation of a transcendent paradise in all its savagery, solitude, and splendor.
Radhanath Swami emerged from his years of travel wanting to explain for others the beauty and rewards of a life devoted to God, and therein lay a dilemma. Radhanath Swami's many followers and friends describe him as completely selfless and consequently unwilling to take credit for his work and restless when a spotlight is focused on him. By choosing A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (1896-1977), a Bengali Vaishnava Saint, as his guru (after declining offers of initiation from several tyagis or renunciants in the Himalayas), Radhanath Swami cast his fate to the wind, cut his matted locks, and entered back into the society.
RadhanathMaharaj.net gives us a complete collection of the teaching of Radhanath Swami. Teachings consists of Transcriptions of lectures delivered by Radhanath Swami at various places. This website is to inspire the followers of Radhanath Swami to practice the philosophy of Vaishanavism.
The people will teach that lesson for all time to come. Devananda Pandit was a very great scholar, he was perfectly celebrate, he had full control over all of his senses, he was very gentle, he was quite humble in many ways and he exclusively studied and spoke from one scripture and that was Srimad Bhagavatam. And in the town of Navadweep he was the foremost of all recitors of Srimad Bhagavatam. In fact of all the scholars in Navadweep he was one of the most highly respected and highly esteemed, but there was one problem, he never received the mercy of the Vaishnavas, he never served the Vaishnavas and therefore he never developed for devotional service, he had a strong longing in his heart for liberation and therefore he would explain the Srimad Bhagavatam in that way. One day, Lord Chaitanya and his associates were passing by the Ashram were he lived, which is in a place of Navadweep called Kulia. And Lord Chaitanya heard his explanations from Srimad Bhagavatam and as he listened, he could understand that this man is explaining everything without a trace of devotion to Krsna, so Lord Chaitanya became very angry, he said: “Who is this rascal, who thinks that he could teach Srimad Bhagavatam to others, he is not qualified to speak Bhagavatam, he is not qualified to read Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam is the essence of all the Vedas, it deals exclusively with pure unalloyed devotion, it kicks out the concept of Artha, Kama, Dharma and even liberation and he is speaking that the goal of Bhagavatam is liberation, I do not hear even a word of devotion from his mouth, Srimad Bhagavatam is like the most delicious Yogurt (Dahi). And Sukhadev Goswami has churned that yogurt and made it into pure butter and he has spread it to Maharaj Parikshit who is eating it to his full satisfaction. Srimad Bhagavatam, is non-different than Krsna himself and Sukhadev Goswami, he presented Bhagavatam for only one purpose, to glorify the personality of Krsna and teach unalloyed service to Krsna but this man he does not understand in his birth he does not even have a trace of understanding of what is Bhagavatam, therefore all his teaching is simply cheating” and then Lord Chaitanya, who is non-different than the Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead in great anger, transcendental anger, he called out: “I will take his Bhagavatam and I will rip into pieces” and he started running to Devananda Pandit’s Ashram and the devotees somehow or other stopped Lord Chaitanya and Lord Chaitanya walked away.
One day Lord Chaitanya was walking with Srivas Thakur and they came across the house of many men who were drinking wine and getting drunk and they were terribly intoxicated, so Lord Chaitanya was in the mood of Balaram and he wanted go in to preach to them. But Srivas Thakur said: “You cannot go in there, what people will say if you go into the houses that are drinking wine”. And Lord Chaitanya said: “No I will go or I want to go”. Then Srivas Thakur said: “But you will loose your reputation and if people criticize you due to misunderstanding you that will be worse than death to me, therefore my Lord, Please no, if you go in that house, I will at this very moment drown myself in the river Ganges”. This is the nature of the devotee. A devotee lives only to see the Lord glorified and there is nothing more painful, even death is not so painful, even the most terrible chronic disease is not painful for a devotee is hearing the Lord of his devotees being criticized or blasphemed that is unbearable. So when Lord Chaitanya, Srivas’s very sweet and faithful devotional, he said: “Alright, I will not go in the house of drunkards”, but the Lord is in everyone’s heart, he is Paramatma, so he somehow he induced all the drunkards to come outside. And when they saw him, they said: “Oh! This Nimai Pandit, he is very good, he is always chanting the Holy names” and then they began in their drunkard intoxicated state, they all began dancing and dancing while chanting the Holy name.
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
And they followed on and on following the Lord and very blissfully singing, chanting and dancing and when Srivas saw this he began to weep tears of love, what is the mercy and compassion of the Lord, he has transformed these drunkards into devotees by inducing them to chant the Holy name and as Lord Chaitanya he stored his merciful glance upon all of these drunkards they became intoxicated not with wine but with Krsna Prema and with great enthusiasm chanted the Holy name.
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
The Lord does not care what your past is but if you are simply submissive to receive his mercy even if you are from the lowest category within human society, Lord Chaitanya will give you the greatest mercy. Seeing the drunkards Lord Chaitanya began to smile and he walked on his way and then he happened to meet Devananda Pandit. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he said: “Hai! Devananda, you come here, you listen to what I have to say”. He said: “You are a rascal, you are a nonsense, you do not understand what is Bhagavat and you are preaching Bhagavat. There are two types of Bhagavat, there is a person Bhagavat and there is the book Bhagavat. The book Bhagavat is non-different than Krsna, it is the literary incarnation of Krsna and no one however great or learned or austere one may be can approach Krsna unless one gets the favor of a devotee. And a Person Bhagavat is that devotee who lives his life according to the teachings of Bhagavat and Srivas is such person Bhagavat and you have made an offense to him”. When Lord Chaitanya saw Devananda, he remembered the offence, this particular story happened before Lord Chaitanya even manifested his Lila of establishing the Sankirtan movement within this world. It happened many, many years back. But if you offend a Devotee, the Lord never forgets it unless you are toned properly for that offense. What happened is this. Devananda Pandit in his academy was teaching Srimad Bhagavatam to his many hundreds of students and in this those days they were so many scholars and so many pandits in Navadweep but there was hardly any devotees gathered here and there and the devotees are always eager to hear the wonderful glories of Krsna from Srimad Bhagavatam. Because factually Srimad Bhagavatam being the incarnation of Krsna in Book form every word, every syllable is completely concentrated with all the opulence, beauty and glory of Krsna and any syllable from the Bhagavatam can invoke ecstatic love of God from the heart if it is heard with submissive humble heart and if one gains the favor of the Vaishnavas. Srivas, happened to be walking by that place and he went into the school of Devananda Pandit and as he was speaking Srimad Bhagavatam, Srivas Thakur began to remember Krsna, became so engrossed in the Bhagavatam that he went into an ecstatic trance of devotion, tears began to flow from his eyes, his limbs began to tremble, his hairs began to stand on hand all the eight symptoms of ecstacy - Astasatvika Bhava became manifest in his body and he began to cry very loudly and the students they had no devotion, what did they know what is a devotee, they were reading Srimad Bhagavatam from an academic point of view, so they considered Srivas to be simply a disturbance to the class so very rudely they picked him up and they threw him outside and Srivas was lying there in the dirt and then he came back to his external consciousness and he felt very bad and he went home without saying anything. But Lord Chaitanya remembered that offense and face to face with Devananda Pandit he said that: “you are reciting Srimad Bhagavatam but the Person Bhagavatam came right into your school, the pure devotee of Krsna who has realized the essence of Bhagavatam and because you are a fool, you do not understand what is love of God, you have thrown him out, you have abused him, you have manhandled him. Because the Guru his responsible to whatever the disciples do, your pupils did this, you did not stop him, you are responsible for this offense” and then he said to Devananda pandit: “you have no qualification to recite Bhagavatam, you have no qualification to be a teacher, you are cheating” and Lord Chaitanya walked away. And Devananda Pandit was very embarrassed, felt quite sad but at the same time he just went home what he could do, he was such big famous scholar being adored by everyone. Soon after this Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took Sanyas, he left Navadweep and he traveled to Jagannath Puri to make his residence. Some years went by from Jagannath Puri went Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu toward all the Holy places of South India and he transformed the lives of millions and millions of people into pure unalloyed devotees of the Lord and inducing them to chant the Holy name.
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
When he returned to Puri, he decided to go to see the beautiful form of mother Ganges in Navadweep and he also decided to forgive all those persons who had made offences to him, so he began to travel with his associates. He came to the Holy land of Navadweep and he went to the brother of Sarvabhowma Bhattacharya’s house, his name was Vidyavachaspati and while he was there, this great personality, fortunate personality offered his Dandavat obeisance’s to Lord Chaitanya so happy he had come to his house. And the Lord told him that: “I would like to be here in a quite place with you and I will stay at your home for many days and then I will go to Mathura and Vrundavan”. So Vidyavachaspati was so happy, that somehow or other the word spread that Lord Chaitanya has returned to Navadweep and all the people of Navadweep who were so intoxicated by their wealth and by their high knowledge, so many of them offended Lord Chaitanya and did not recognize him, but after he took Sanyas and they heard of his glories, then they understood here is our real home town hero. He is the person who is really the jewel of Navadweep and we did not recognize him properly there but now we will go and take shelter at his lotus feet and there were also many people of Navadweep who actually became devotees by the powers of Lord Chaitanya, Sri Navadweep Chandra and they were casted in ocean of separation and when they heard that Lord Chaitanya was back, in this millions of people were running from all directions to the house of Vidyavachaspati, the roads became so full that no humans could possibly fit on in, so peoples were going through the jungles, millions, hundreds and thousands they were roaming, the roads were filled the jungles, they were knocking down all the thorns, all the bushes, all the trees the whole jungles were being cleared just by the feet of devotees. And then they came to the Ganges, they had to cross the Ganges, as they traveled, they were all completely immersed in the expectation of seeing Lord Chaitanya and they were loudly chanting the Holy name:
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
And they came to the Ganges, the problem was how to cross it, so some ferry boat came and all the ferry boats within seconds they were thousands and thousands of people on the ferry boat and the ferry boat completely fell to pieces and the owners of boats they could not keep people from board, how do you stop crowds like that? And the people out of sympathy that the man’s boat was destroyed they would give them they gave the ferry man their clothes or whatever they had. So how to cross the Ganges? Some of them took clay pots and held it to their chest and started floating across like that and some of them were taking trunks of banana trees and making them into little rafts and floating across like that, in this way the devotees, millions of people crossing the Ganges, millions of heads floating in the Ganges and some were swimming and some had absolutely no idea. Jai Advaita Maharaj ki Jai. Please Maharaj Come: It is great honour to receive HH Jai Advaita Maharaj, unexpected visit. Hare Krsna. So, some of the people did not even know how to swim but miraculously, they began swimming, even in the high currents of the Ganges and when they all across they all went to Vidyavachaspati’s house and they said: “We have heard that Lord Chaitanya is living in your house”, but that time there were hundreds and thousands and millions of people begging him, “Please ask the Lord to come out”. So he went into the house, he said to Lord Chaitanya that, “All of these people are eager to meet you, eager to see you”. Srila Rupa Goswami explains this is the price of seeing the beautiful form of the Lord, is that eagerness to see the Lord, these people were so eager to see the Lord, they literally forgot their wives, children, homes, all their responsibilities, forgot all the occupational duties for that day, in fact forever. When it came to crossing the Ganges, they forgot whether they knew how to swim or not they just swam, when it came to crossing to get to the Ganges, they forgot whether there is jungle or no jungle they just ran, over thorns, few trees. This is the type of eagerness we should have for Krsna. _________0:20:16 sloka. According to how eager we are for Krsna, to serve Krsna, to chant his name, to hear about him, to be with his devotees to that degree Krsna will gradually bestow his mercy upon you, will reveal him self to you. So Lord Chaitanya came out of the house of Vidyavachaspati and he raised his arms and he induced everyone to very loudly call out the holy name:
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
And all the people, they all began with very humble hearts to pray to the Lord that, “we are very sinful, we are very sinful, please, tell us how we can relieve ourselves from our sins and become purified as your devotees” and Lord Chaitanya mercifully glanced at all of them and gave them the same message, he said: “Chant Krsna’s name, worship Krsna, hear about Krsna, make Krsna your life, make Krsna your wealth, make Krsna your very heart and soul” and then he asked everyone to chant the beautiful Kirtan of the Holy name. And as people, they all wanted to see Lord Chaitanya and they were so many millions of them, thousands of people at a time were trying to climb up the same tree, just to get a view of Lord Chaitanya and somehow or other they all saw him. Tens and thousands of people were crowded on the little roof tops, how the roof did not break? That is only by the mercy of the Lord, in this way, there was a wonderful Kirtan and exchange between Lord Chaitanya and his devotees and then Lord Chaitanya disappeared, he did not tell anything to anyone that even Sarvabhowma Bhattacharya’s brother Vidyavachaspati, did not know where Lord Chaitanya had gone, he was searching everywhere and all of the people were asking him, “where is he, where is he?” He said: “I do not know, he has gone away, he is not in my house and then the people”, they all nobody believed them, that was the problem. One person came secretly and said: “Bring me in to see Lord Chaitanya, I am all alone, nobody else will know that you take me” and he said: “I do not know where he is?”, “Of Course, you know where he is, bring me in, no one will know, just me”. And then other little groups would come and said: “Vidyavachaspathi, we want to see Lord Chaitanya, we know, you are hiding him, we know it is big crowd but just let us see, we are your friends, we will do anything for you”. He said: “I do not know, where he is?” And soon the crowds were becoming angry, and hundreds and thousands and millions of people were calling out: “Vidyavachaspati, what kind of Brahman is he? A devotee and a Brahman is supposed to be merciful. What is he doing, he simply wants to be liberated himself and he wants rest of us to go to hell, he wants to keep Lord Chaitanya for himself and cause all of us to suffer 0:24:23_____ of his association. Just like a person who has sweet meats and wants to eat them all himself and not distribute anything to anyone else. Lord Chaitanya is the sweetest of the sweet and he wants to keep it all for himself, he is a cheater, he is a liar, he is a crook, he is not a proper Brahman”. And Vidyavachaspati’s heart was broken by hearing all these words against him, then you can imagine, on one side, he was suffering the severe experience of separation, because Lord Chaitanya left him just like everybody else and on the other side, everyone condemned him as being a liar, cheater, so he was suffering terribly. And then one Brahman, whispered into his ear: “Lord Chaitanya has gone to Kulia, he has gone to the place of Kulia to the house of Madhavadas, there you will find him”. He came out and he told all the people: “Lord Chaitanya has gone to Kulia, we should all go” and immediately everyone started going toward Kulia, but now there were millions of people more than before and as they were traveling they were all in great expectations, just running and jumping, dancing and chanting the holy names:
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
When they came to the Ganges, there were many boats waiting for them, everybody who had a boat arranged their boats there and so many people were piling on the boats more than the boats could possibly go, they started to try and go and all the boats started to sink, every boat but whatever boat started to sink just when it was sinking land happened to be under it, so not one boat sank. Because they were so anxious to see the Lord Chaitanya, he was protecting them against all material laws. And then they just jumped out of their boats and somehow or other started to swimming, floating, and getting across the Ganges. And when they all came to Madhavadas’s house in Kulia, Vidyavachaspati was looking everywhere when he found Lord Chaitanya and he said: “Please, everyone is accusing me of so many terrible things, and you are the protector of your devotee, so please give them your mercy and show them that you are really here”. So by that time all the people who were gathered around the house in great expectation. When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came outside, he raised his arms and induced everyone to chant the Holy names:
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
In this way, Lord Chaitanya asked everyone to have Kirtan and because there were so many people, literally thousands and thousands of different kirtan groups all started their own Kirtan, they were all dancing, they were chanting, everyone’s eyes were seeing the beautiful form of Sri Gauranga Prabhu, his beautiful golden complexion was resplendent what the ambrosial essence of ecstatic love and anyone who would see it, would become stimulated, his love for Krsna and as everyone who was chanting and dancing, Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally went into the group, along with Lord Nityananda Prabhu and they began dancing with all the people, in this way there was wonderful Kirtan, the whole Universe was filled with the beautiful sound of Krsna’s Holy name:
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu danced with all the people for many hours and he sat in a quiet place and people who committed Aparadh’s, offences to him began to approach him. There was Gopal Chakravarthi, he came at that time, Kulia is the land of the forgiveness of the offences to the Lord and his devotees. Gopal Chakravarti, when Haridas Thakur was preaching the glories of the Holy name at a meeting arranged by Raghunath Das Goswami’s father and uncle Govardhan and Hiranya Madhumadar, Haridas was saying that the Holy name is so powerful even if pronounced incorrectly, even with nambas one becomes cleaned and purified of all the anarthas within the heart and he explained the goal of chanting the holy name is love of God. Incomparison liberation is insignificant, it is simply an insignificant byproduct of Krsna Prema. And Gopal Chakravarthi, he was very much upset, he was a Mayawadi and his goal of life is liberation and he said: “If one can, if liberation is just an insignificant byproduct of Bhakti”, he said: “I do not believe, if what you saying is not true then may your nose fall of”. So he offended Haridas, he got fired from his job and kicked out of that place, Gopal Chakravarthi and the next day he got leprosy in his fingers and his nose fell off and he suffered terribly. He came before Lord Chaitanya at Kulia and begged his forgiveness and Lord Chaitanya said: “Because you have offended the Holy name of Krsna the only relief is to constantly chant the Holy name with your mouth very loudly”.
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
And in this way Gopal Chakravarthy became a purified devotee of the Lord and all of his injustices and all of his offences removed. Then Gopal Chapula came, Gopal Chapula had offended Srivas Thakur by trying to insult him and defame his name and he contracted terrible leprosy himself, he was suffering. At one time, he even approached Lord Chaitanya and fell at his feet and said: “I beg forgiveness from you, please relieve me of this miserable condition”. And Lord Chaitanya said: “Because you have offended my devotee, I declare that you should suffer like this for ten millions of birth”. But in Kulia, he came to Lord Chaitanya with repentant heart and Lord Chaitanya said: “If you beg forgiveness of Srivas Thakur and never offend Vaishnavas again and take the Holy name of Krsna, Krsna will forgive you” and he did that and his leprosy was removed and he also became a great devotee of the Lord.
And then an other Brahman came before Lord Chaitanya and he said: “My Lord, I have made great mistakes, I have been offensive to your Holy name, I have been offensive to you and I have been offensive to your devotees, I was thinking that in the age of Kali-yuga no one can be a real Vaishnav and all your devotees were simply pretenders and with my mouth I criticized them so many times but now I understand who you are, who your devotees are? And my heart is burning with a shame for what I have done, Please tell me how can I a torn for this offense”. Then Lord Chaitanya gave very precious instructions which we should all hear very carefully. He said that: “If you drink poison, that poison will cause you great suffering and death but with the same mouth that you have drunk poison, if you drink nectar that will neutralize the effects of the poison and give you immortality. To criticize the name of the Lord and especially to criticize the devotees of the Lord is like willingly drinking poison, with that same mouth that you have criticized and blasphemed devotees you should use that mouth to constantly hear and chant the glories of the Lord and you should use your mouth always to glorify the characteristics and qualities of the Lord’s devotees, the Vaishnavas, through poetry, song, words, always keep your mouth filled with the nectar of the glorification of the Vaishnavas and this way you will achieve forgiveness for your offences and immortality”. That Brahman became an intimate associate of the devotees of the Lord by following these principles and Lord Chaitanya wanted to demonstrate through this wonderful pastime of how an offence to Krsna is serious but an offence to his devotee is much more serious. And service to Krsna is glorious but there is nothing more glorious in pleasing to Krsna and service to his devotees. The ultimate religious principle in this age of Kali-yuga, is to serve the Vaishnav devotees because that is the only way that the Yuga Dharma can properly be performed chanting of the Holy names and it was at that time the Devanand pandit appeared on the scene.
Today is the disappearance of Devanand Pandit. Devanand Pandit after Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took Sanyas and was chastised by the Lord from the chastisement he became a little purified and one day Brakreshwar Pandit one of the very special associates of the Lord came to Devanand pandit’s ashram. Wherever Brakreshwar Pandit would chant and dance people would become filled with enthusiasm for devotional service. In fact, Lord Chaitanya said: “He dances, he said: He is like wings to my heart and by seeing him dance, I can fly”, sometimes he would dance and kirtan for the pleasure of Lord Chaitanya for days and days at time without stopping, he was an embodiment of love for Krsna. So Devanand Pandit saw the humility and the devotion in Vakreshwar Pandit and he appreciated it and he invited him to stay in his ashram and he served him and he cared for him. And from Brakreshwar pandit he heard the glories of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and he understood that he was actually Krsna’s personality of Godhead and sometimes when Brakreshwar pandit would have Kirtan, and sing and dance people from all around would crowd to see his beautiful dancing and Devananda pandit with his stick he would keep people from crowding in and interfering with the dance of this devotee and sometimes Brakreshwar Pandit would fall in Love of God and Devananda Pandit would catch him and he would put him on his lap and with his cloth, he would dust, the dust from Devananda pandit’s body and sometimes Devananda pandit would take dust from Brakreshwar Pandit’s feet and place it on his head and smear his body with it. When one develops devotion and attachment to serving a Vaishnava, one becomes most pleasing to Krsna. Then only through this process from the essence of knowledge and Bhakti revealed within our hearts, so by the mercy of Brakreshwar pandit, Devananda Pandit came before Lrod Chaitanya, he was standing in a corner a kind of hiding, because he was so ashamed and shy that Lord Chaitanya saw and he said: “Devananda Pandit come here, you have served Brakreshwar pandit, you have pleased him, he is the embodiment of love of God, wherever Brakreshwar Pandit’s body may be that is the essence of all Holy places, that is the abode of the Lord, because the Lord is always so pleased to live within his hearts”. Devananda Pandit came and offered his prostrated obeisance’s again and again with tears in his eyes before Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then Lord Chaitanya to Devananda Pandit, he said that: “Please tell how I can a torn for my offences and please tell me how I can properly recite Srimad Bhagavatam” and Lord Chaitanya told him that “Srimad Bhagavatam, from the beginning, the middle and the end, only has one subject Bhakti, Pure devotion. Pure devotional service is the only thing that is immortal, at the end of creation, everything will be finished but pure devotional service will remain always resplendent”. He said that: “Srimad Bhagavatam is the very body of Krsna, just as Kurma avatar, Matsya avatar, Varaha Avatar appeared at certain times by their own free will, in the same way Srimad Bhagavatam has appeared by its own free will through the mouth of Vedavyas. Vedavyas wrote – the four Vedas, all the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Itihasas, the Mahabharat, the Vedanta Sutra but still he was dissatisfied in his heart but through the inspiration of Narada Muni and the grace of the Personality of Godhead, Srimad Bhagavatam was revealed which was the perfection and fulfillment of his mission and brought him great satisfaction. Who ever you teach Srimad Bhagavatam to you must know that every word, every lesson that you give should only teach humility and devotion to Krsna. That is the goal of life and only way to achieve the goal of life. And you must always humbly serve the Vaishnavas because unless we please the Person Bhagavatam, the book Bhagavatam will not reveal its truth to us. We can be the great scholar but Bhagavat is Krsna, Krsna does not reveal himself to scholars, if we please his devotees then when we read Bhagavatam true knowledge will be awakened”.
His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, he had translated Srimad Bhagavatam and he has give wonderful purport according to all previous Acharyas. Those who read his Bhagavatam and associate with his devotees it is very simple to understand the essence of pure devotional service. But without the blessings of such a pure soul how many Bhagavatam recitors are there in India and in the world and practically none of them believe in Krsna as The Personality of Godhead, they have so many interpretations, so many calculations, so misconceptions and by hearing there recitals how many people are surrendering to the Lotus feet of Krsna as the all and all, following in the foot steps of Prahallad or Dhruva or Ambarish or denizens of Vrundavan, how many are going to these Pravachans and coming out with this conclusion of changing their lives and surrendering. Because, unless we hear from the devotee, unless we become the servant of such a devotee these conclusions remain hidden from our hearts. So through Devananda pandit, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed the Supreme glory of Srimad Bhagavatam and how to hear it and how to recite it and Devananda Pandit, now endowed with pure unalloyed devotion became a true authority of Srimad Bhagavatam and offered his repeated obeisance’s to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and when the devotees saw this, they became so pleased, so happy to see the Lord’s mercy, they all blissfully had Kirtans chanted the Holy names:
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
So on this day, the disappearance day of Devananda Pandit, we are very fortunate to hear this wonderful story. In fact, Vrundavan Das Thakur explains - that anyone who sincerely hears this wonderful narration of the Lord’s deliverance of Devananda Pandit, will become free from all offences and will achieve Lord Chaitanya’s special mercy of devotional service to Lord Krsna.
Srila Prabhupad Ki Jai!!!!!!!!
We have special guest today, I would like to introduce, first of all Samikrishi Prabhu, please come. Samikrishi Prabhu is a very well loved devotee throughout the whole world, he is one of Srila Prabhupad’s very dear disciples, he is a doctor in America and very successful and exemplary in his occupation and he has brought many people to Krsna Consciousness through his pure life style and exemplary life and his whole family are wonderful devotees, four children and his wife is also a initiated devotee and it is so wonderful that practically at all times some Vaishnavas living at his house, it is the favorite stopping for all Sanyasis when they come to America. Practically any Sanyasi who comes to America, spend some days in Samik Rishi Prabhu’s house, because he has special rooms that he personally built just to receive guests - devotees and his family is always anxious and blissful to cook for devotees and they have a beautiful temple in their house with Jagannath and beautiful marbles devotees of Radha and Sharadbihari, and Gaur Nithai, each member of the family has their own altar, where they perform their own special poojas and his HH Srila Satswaroop Das Goswami has bestowed such special mercy on Samik Rishi, many of his books that you have read were all written at Samik Rishi Prabhu’s house, he often stays here several months, a year because the love and affection and care that this family shows to this great soul has made an such attractive place for him to be and perform his service. Samik Rishi Prabhu is really an embodiment of how a Gruhasta can perfect his life in Krsna Consciousness by always being anxious to serve the devotees. When I was in America last summer, he invited me to come to his house and when I was there, there was forty/ fifty people not only did they come to the house but they all stayed at his house overnight, ate all meals there, he invited Malati mataji and Malati said: “but I am with twenty five others”, he said: Bring them all. So they stayed several days, in this way there is no question of too many people or too less people or privacy or anything all, his whole family simply works together to serve Vaishnavas with happy, anxious anticipation for devotional service. And we are so honored and happy that he has come to Radha Gopinath mandir and I would like everyone to kindly welcome with great enthusiasm.
And we also have Akila Adhara Prabhu, he is a very wonderful disciple of Srila Prabhupad and he has for so many years been distributing books and preaching and he was traveling with Utsav party I believe and we are very happy to receive him, let us offer our welcome to him. Hari Bol!!!!
And Ekalavya Prabhu, disciple of HH Lokanath Maharaj, always very blissful, he led Gurupuja this morning and made everyone dance very jubilantly and his famous throughout the world of ISKCON for playing his transcendental trumpet during Kirtan, he is actually a very masterful player of trumpet and he has really gone to the extent of showing us what is Yuktaviragya. Srila Jaiadvaita Maharaj is reminding us that he was one the cover of BTG playing his trumpet during Kirtan, how everything can be used in Krsna’s service to glorify the Holy name of the Lord, let us welcome him to the Radha Gopinath Mandir. Hari Bol!!!!!!
And of course, our dear mentor and guide HH Jaiadvaita maharaj, you all know so intimately and dearly we would like to welcome him to Radha Gopinath Mandir. Hari Bol!!!!!
Jai Advaita Maharaj is so happy that the latest edition of BTG is become so nice that he is uncontrolled and his joy. Showing ecstatic symptoms that only a highly realized soul can understand. I read about Lord Nityananda Prabhu but we are seeing him. By your power. So Samik Rishi Prabhu, we would be very happy if you speak a few words to devotees.
Samik Rishi Prabhu: Here verse from Bhagavad Gita and try to explain that: ___________sloka 0:55:15. This is from 18th chapter of Bhagavad Gita, so _________Maharaj was also quoting these verse, ______0:55:30, so this Brahma Bhuta stage is when one knows his proper position, when one knows that he is servant of the Lord, The Supreme Lord and when one engages in the service of the Lord and when he knows his relationship – Sadhyan and Sadhan that was described in Chaitanya Charitamrita that who is the between Ramana rai and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so this was the relationship between the Supreme Lord and soul, so one who realizes this identification who he is and engages him in that way in the service of the Lord then one is said to be in Brahma Bhuta stage, so such a person he does not lament or does not hanker for any material things, he is equal to everyone, all the living entities he is equal and in that stage he is always happy. ____________0:56:40 and then he develops Love for Godhead, he develops his proper distinction, so Maharaj has explained very elaborately about the offences to the Supreme Lord, or devotees of the Lord how to avoid the offences and try never to commit the offences to the lotus feet of Vaishnavas so that is the essence of this vedic culture, Vaishnav Culture, the essence is serve the lotus feet of the devotees, Vaishanavas not to commit any offences and then he becomes very dear to the Lord. Hare Krsna.
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Tags: Unedited lectures
Tags: Unedited lectures