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In 1970, at the age of only nineteen, Radhanath Swami left his home in America seeking adventure and spiritual knowledge. After trekking across Europe for months, he reached his long hoped for destination: India. After living there for many years as a sadhu or wandering monk, he 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 he 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 (San Rafael, CA: Mandala Publishing, 2009). Reviewers have called Radhanath'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. His 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 spiritual activist, 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.
Maya
Beware Of Paramatma's Watchful Eyes SB-05.18.29
hiraṇmaye 'pi bhagavān nivasati kūrma-tanuḿ bibhrāṇas tasya tat priyatamāḿ tanum aryamā saha varṣa-puruṣaiḥ pitṛ-gaṇādhipatir
upadhāvati mantram imaḿ cānujapati
TRANSLATION
Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: In Hiraṇmaya-varṣa, the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, lives in the form of a tortoise [kūrma-śarīra]. This most dear and beautiful form is always worshiped there in devotional service by Aryamā, the chief resident of Hiraṇmaya-varṣa, along with the other inhabitants of that land. They chant the following hymns.
PURPORT
The word priyatama (dearmost) is very significant in this verse. Each devotee regards a particular form of the Lord as most dear. Because of an atheistic mentality, some people think that the tortoise, boar and fish incarnations of the Lord are not very beautiful. They do not know that any form of the Lord is always the fully opulent Personality of Godhead.
Cast Off the Sinful Mentality SB-10.20.28
Om Namho Bhagavate Vasudevaya (Other speaker) Om Namho Bhagavate Vasudevaya(Other speaker)saha (00:45 – 01:43)the lord who can distinctly just see the mind of others perceive Brahma’s distress and said to him cast off this impure body of yours, thus commanded by the lord, Brahma cast off his body. Purport by his divine Grace A. C. Bhakti Vedantaswamy Prabhupad. The lord is described here by the word Viviktadyathmadharshana, if any one can completely perceive another’s distress without doubt it is the lord himself, if someone is in distress and wants to get relief from his from his friend some times it is so happens that his friend does not appreciate the volume of distress he is suffering. But for the Supreme lord it is not difficult, the supreme lord is Paramatma, is sitting within the heart of every living entity and he directly perceives the exact causes of distress.
Read moreDon't Run After the Twilight of Material Existence SB-03.20.38
prahasya bhāva-gambhīraḿ
jighrantyātmānam ātmanā
kāntyā sasarja bhagavān
gandharvāpsarasāḿ gaṇān
TRANSLATION
With a laugh full of deep significance, the worshipful Brahmā then evolved by his own loveliness, which seemed to enjoy itself by itself, the hosts of Gandharvas and Apsarās.
PURPORT by His Divine Grace Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupad
The musicians in the upper planetary systems are called Gandharvas, and the dancing girls are called Apsarās. After being attacked by the demons and evolving a form of a beautiful woman in the twilight, Brahmā next created Gandharvas and Apsarās. Music and dancing employed in sense gratification are to be accepted as demoniac, but the same music and dancing, when employed in glorifying the Supreme Lord as kīrtana, are transcendental, and they bring about a life completely fit for spiritual enjoyment.
Maya Won’t Let Go Untill We Surrender
Srimad Bhagavatam Class by
HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj
29rd August 2009
TEXT 8.3.5
kälena païcatvam iteñu kåtsnaço
lokeñu päleñu ca sarva-hetuñu
tamas tadäséd gahanaà gabhéraà
yas tasya päre ‘bhiviräjate vibhuù
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