The Appearance Day of Our Beloved Spiritual Master
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Dear Srila Prabhupada
Please accept my humble obeisances, and kindly forgive my offences. I am truly grateful to you for all that you have given me. Every day when I go into our temple room, and I light a candle or stick of incense, sit down and chant japa or sing bhajans, whether I am cooking an offering or preparing the Lord’s plate, picking a flower to offer or washing and drying the Lord’s plate, reading from one of your many books, or simply thinking about Lord Krishna or Caitanya Mahaprabhu, I feel a deep sense of gratitude, and appreciation.
Today we celebrate the Appearance of Lord Krishna (Janmastami) with a full day fast, followed by a nice vegetarian feast. As we like to do on this day, we read from the KRSNA Book. So we are posting the complete chapter; “The Birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa”.
…As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that His appearance, birth, and activities, are all transcendental, and one who understands them factually becomes immediately eligible to be transferred to the spiritual world. The Lord’s appearance or birth is not like that of an ordinary man who is forced to accept a material body according to his past deeds. The Lord’s appearance is explained in the Second Chapter: He appears out of His own sweet pleasure. When the time was mature for the appearance of the Lord, the constellations became very auspicious. The astrological influence of the star known as Rohiṇī was also predominant because this star is considered to be very auspicious. Rohiṇī is under the direct supervision of Brahmā. According to the astrological conclusion, besides the proper situation of the stars, there are auspicious and inauspicious moments due to the different situations of the different planetary systems. At the time of Kṛṣṇa’s birth, the planetary systems were automatically adjusted so that everything became auspicious. ( from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Chapter 3)
Today, being Krsna Janmastami, we are offering a free scanned copy of the original ISKCON Press 1970 Edition of KRSNA Book Vol. 1, which you can download. Just click on the following link to began downloading. This could take a while depending on the speed of your connection. This free scanned copy includes all the original art work as well.
I would like to share a very Special Photo of Srila Prabhupada in the San Francisco temple 1968 signing His name to a set of India published, first canto, Srimad Bhagavatam consisting of three volumes.
There is a backstory that bring back exciting memories to me. When Srila Prabhupada arrived in the USA, He carried with Him 200 sets of these books, which most were sold. The remaining books (assorted volumes) in India were shipped and arrived in the winter of 1966. In Srila Prabhupada’s Apt. it was me and Brahmananda that unpacked these volumes. They were shipped in thin steel painted black trunks. There were three or four of them and pretty banged-up during shipment. But the books were undamaged. There were only a small number of full sets left, most were 2nd and 3rd volumes of the set. The front-covers were packed separately. And it was my service to carefully put the front jackets on all the books right in front of Srila Prabhupada. I was so excited unpacking these volumes thinking as a young boy, what a great treasure I found. I had to carefully fold the jackets around each and every book while His Divine Grace watched. We stacked some books in His room and remainder one trunk that wasnt damaged we put all the other books. So this photo of Srila Prabhupada signing this set brought me back to those days that I was allowed to perform this humble service with great enthusiasm, and in my old age it brings my heart great happiness……your servant gargamuni das………
One of the most used books in our temple room is the songbook. Everyday it seems, I am flipping through the “Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas”, singing one of the many songs or reciting some of the numerous pranams (prayers) as part of my daily sadhana. The following post is the first 13 pages of songbook, which in my mind is a nice way to start the day and is a good prelude to other devotional service.
Pranams from the Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas
SRI GURU PRANAMA
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah
om-address; ajnana-of ignorance; timira-by the darkness; andhasya-of one who was blinded; jnana-anjana-by the ointment of spiritual knowledge; salakaya-by a medical instrument called a salaka, which is used to apply medical ointment to eyes afflicted with cataracts: caksuh-eyes; unmilitam-were opened; yena-by whom; tasmai-unto him; sri-gurave-unto my spiritual master; namah-obeisances.
I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the torchlight of knowledge.
This morning when I opened my computer I saw this Headline;“Middle East braces for week that could determine the course of the Gaza war”. And I was reminded of all the conflict at present in the world. Then I opened the Srimad Bhagavatam and began reading the Preface by Srila Prabhupada and it seemed so timely.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Preface
We must know the present need of human society. And what is that need? Human society is no longer bounded by geographical limits to particular countries or communities. Human society is broader than in the Middle Ages, and the world tendency is toward one state or one human society. The ideals of spiritual communism, according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, are based more or less on the oneness of the entire human society, nay, of the entire energy of living beings. The need is felt by great thinkers to make this a successful ideology. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will fill this need in human society. It begins, therefore, with the aphorism of Vedānta philosophy janmādy asya yataḥ (Bhag. 1.1.1.) to establish the ideal of a common cause.
Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of oblivion. It has made rapid progress in the field of material comforts, education and economic development throughout the entire world. But there is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important issues. There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society.
I posted this some years ago, but this morning I happened upon it again, and so enjoyed it, we thought we would post it again. In this treatise Ajitananda Prabhu describes how Srila Prabhupada perfectly displayed the twenty-six qualities of a pure devotee of Lord Krishna.
In Praise of Srila Prabhupada . by Ajitananda dasa ________________
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who successfully distributed the message of Lord Krsna throughout the world, was not an ordinary conditioned soul, governed by the harsh laws of material nature. Although to the unenlightened he may have appeared to exhibit commonplace characteristics, it is evident through the careful study of his life and activities, that Srila Prabhupada perfectly displayed the twenty-six qualities of a pure devotee of Lord Krsna. We learn from Vedic literature that one who possesses these qualities is necessarily free from material bondage, and enjoys an eternal position in the intimate association of the Supreme Lord. Such a great soul is very rarely found within this material realm, and owing to his unparalleled purity and exalted status, he is worshipable by the entire world. Individually, and as a collective society of aspiring devotees, we must always strive to appreciate Srila Prabhupada’s divine qualities, teach this application to others, and perform all of our devotional activities for his satisfaction. This treatise is an imperfect but hopeful attempt to please Srila Prabhupada by illustrating, in a practical way, how he perfectly displayed the twenty-six qualities of a pure devotee of Lord Krsna.
The Hare Krishna Movement 