Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura | The Hare Krishna Movement

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Pranati

01 Jan 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Pranati Tags: Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, Pranati, Sri Caitanya's mercy, Sri Varshabhanavi-devi- dayita dasa, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Pranati, srimate bhaktisiddhanta-sarasvatiti namine

Today on the “New Year” day of 2013, we begin our celebration by honoring the Disappearance of Srila Bhaktididdhanta Sarasvati, with the Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Pranati (prayers).

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Pranati

nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktisiddhanta-sarasvatiti namine

namah–obeisances; om-address; visnu-padaya–unto him who is at the feet of Lord Visnu; krsna-presthaya–who is very dear to Lord Krsna; bhu-tale–on the earth; srimate–all-beautiful; bhaktisiddhanta sarasvati–Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati; iti–thus; namine– who is named.

I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, who is very dear to Lord Krishna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.

sri-varshabhanavi-devi-dayitaya kripabdhaye
krishna-sambandha-vijnana-dayine prabhave namah

sri-varsabhanavi-devi-dayitaya–unto Sri Varsabhanavi-devi-dayita Dasa, the servant of the lover of Srimati Radharani; krpa-abdhaye–who is an ocean of mercy; krsna-sambandha–(of) the relationship with Krsna; vijnana–(of) the science; dayine–who is the deliverer; prabhave–unto the master; namah–obeisances.

I offer my respectful obeisances to Sri Varshabhanavi-devi-dayita dasa [another name of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati], who is favored by Srimati Radharani and who is the ocean of transcendental mercy and the deliverer of the science of Krishna.

madhuryojjvala-premadhya-sri-rupanuga-bhaktida
sri-gaura-karuna-sakti-vigrahaya namo ’stu te

madhurya–conjugal; ujjvala–brilliant; prema–love; adhya– enriched with; sri-rupa-anuga–following Srila Rupa Gosvami; bhakti-da–delivering devotional service; sri-gaura–(of) Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu; karuna–(of) the mercy, sakti–energy; vigrahaya–unto the personified; namah–obeisances; astu–let there be; to–unto you

I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, the personified energy of Sri Caitanya’s mercy, who deliver devotional service which is enriched with conjugal love of Radha and Krishna, coming exactly in the line of revelation of Srila Rupa Gosvami.

namas te gaura-vani-sri-murtaye dina-tarine
rupanuga-viruddhapasiddhanta-dhvanta-harine

namah–obeisances; to–unto you; gaura-vani–teachings of Lord Caitanya; sri-murtaye–unto the personified; dina–(of) the fallen; tarine–unto the deliverer; rupa-anuga–the philosophy which follows the teachings of Srila Rupa Gosvami; viruddha–against; apasiddhanta–(of) unauthorized statements; dhvanta–the darkness; harine–unto you who are removing.

I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, who are the personified teachings of Lord Caitanya. You are the deliverer of the fallen souls. You do not tolerate any statement which is against the teachings of devotional service enunciated by Srila Rupa Gosvami.

Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā (The Govindam Prayers)

19 Dec 2012 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Brahma-samhita, Brahma-samhita, Govindam Prayers, Prayers & Verses, Sri Brahma-samhita Tags: ananda, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Brahma, brahma samihita, cit, eternal blissful spiritual body, Govindam Prayers, isvarah, isvarah paramak krsna, Krishna Govinda, Lord Brahma, Lord Krsna, sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah, sat, Sri Brahma-samhita, supreme, Supreme Godhead, the controller, vigrahah

The Govindam Prayers
From Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā
By His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura

This collection is taken from the fifth chapter of the Hymns of Brahma, and includes verse 1, and 29-56. There were 100 chapters in the Brahma Samhita. This 5th chapter of the Brahma Samhita was discovered by Lord Caitanya during His appearance. The other chapters have not yet been revealed.

The Generals Who Could Not Be Defeated

28 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Disciplic succession, Gaudiya Math, Guru & Disciple, Rupanuga das, Spiritual Master Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhaktivinode Thakur, disciples, Gaudiya Math, generals who could not be defeated, guru, Lord Caitianya Mahaprabhu, Rupanuga das, sankirtan, spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, Srila Prabhupada, viraha astaka

…whatever Krsna Consciousness exists outside of India is due to the humble efforts of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who openly challenged the scientific voidism and sectarian impersonalism dominating the world. Like Bhaktivinode Thakur and Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur, his predecessors in bringing Lord Caitanya’s causeless mercy of Harinama out of India, His Divine Grace remains undefeated, and is prepared to commission any and all of his followers to carry on the tradition of victory.

…The Generals who could not be defeated have already provided the strategy, weapons, and knowledge, the spiritual strength, to guarantee ultimate victory. The Parampara Acaryas have chosen Srila Prabhupada-vani to lead the mission into this 21st Century…

Therefore, the wise shall accept the infallible guidance and protection of Srila Prabhupada and to best capacity help deliver, by His Divine Grace, the inconceivable benediction of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

The Generals Who Could Not Be Defeated
by Sriman Rupanuga das

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada once remarked to his disciples, “You must become a general like me. I cannot be defeated.” Srila Prabhupada was commissioned by another undefeated general, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur, who against all opposition established the legitimacy and influence of the Gaudiya Vaisnava siddhanta in India. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta met resistance from every quarter: professional gurus, prakrta-sahajiyas, caste goswamis, ecumenists, eclecticists, et al., but anyone who dared to sally forth and meet his challenge was ultimately trounced.

Disappearance Day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja

11 Feb 2012 3 Comments

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Lectures Tags: disappearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Guru Maharaja, Lecture by His Divine Grace, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, Srila Prabhupada

Today marks the disappearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, the Spiritual Master of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. We honor this occasion by posting a lecture given by His Divine Grace on the disappearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta in 1968.

His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda’s
Disappearance Day, Lecture Los Angeles, December 9, 1968

(Prabhupāda leads kīrtana)

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Come on. I was thinking of “Where is Jayānanda?” now immediately he has come. (someone brings some kind of offering and Śrīla Prabhupāda says to give it to his Guru Mahārāja) Take care it may not fall down.

(pause) All right.

So today is the disappearance day of my Guru Mahārāja. As I told you that sādhavo jīva vā mara vā. There was a nice story the other day I told you that a sage is giving different kinds of blessings to different types of persons. So to a king’s son, a prince, he blessed, rāja-putra ciraṁ jīva: “You are a king’s son, a prince. You live forever.” And muni-putra, the son of a saintly person, he blessed him, mā jīva mā jīva: “You don’t live.” Rāja-putra ciraṁ muni-putra mā jīva. And sādhu, devotees, he blessed him, jīva vā mara vā: “Either you live or you die, as you like.” And there was a butcher, he blessed him, mā jīva mā mara: “You don’t die, don’t live.” So these words are very significant. That I have already explained, still I am explaining. A prince, he’s enjoying sense, that’s all. He has got enough facility for sense enjoyment. So his next life is hellish. Because if you indulge in sex life, then Kṛṣṇa will give you facility to have sex life three times in an hour, just like the pigeons, the monkeys, the sparrows, they are very sexually strong. You have seen it. So the facility is given. So princely order, they are after sense enjoyment. So he’s blessed that “Better you live forever, because after your death, you do not know what is going to happen to you. You are going to get a hellish life. Better you live for some time. Go on with your enjoyment.” And muni-putra mā jīva. Brahmacārī, working under the guidance under strict disciplinary guidance, of a spiritual master, he is blessed, mā jīva, “You better die. Because you are so trained to enter into the kingdom of God, so why should you take so much trouble? Better you die and go back to Godhead.” Ma jīva. And a devotee he blessed, jīva va maro va: “My dear devotee, either you live or die, the same thing.” And the butcher, he blessed him, ma jīva ma mara: “You don’t live, don’t die.” What he’s to do? His living condition is so abominable. From the morning, he has to slaughter so many animals, see the bloodstain, the ghastly scene. That is his livelihood. So what a horrible life this is. So “Don’t live. And don’t die also.” Because after death, oh, he is going to be in so much hellish condition, nobody can describe. So both lives, living condition and death, after death, his condition is very horrible.

Prayer unto the Lotus Feet of Krsna

13 Dec 2011 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Poetry of Srila Prabhupada, Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas Tags: Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, disappearance day of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Jaladuta, Prayer unto the Lotus Feet of Krsna, Sept 13 1965, Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada, Srimati Radharani

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and his disciples

Dec 14, 2001 is the Disappearance Day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami, and we honor him with a prayer written by Srila Prabhupada written aboard the ship Jaladuta, on his way to fulfill the order (mission) of his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta.

Prayer unto the Lotus Feet of Krsna
by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
on board the ship Jaladuta, September 13, 1965

(refrain)
kṛṣṇa taba puṇya habe bhāi
e-puṇya koribe jabe rādhārāṇī khusī habe
dhruva ati boli tomā tāi

I emphatically say to you, O brothers, you will obtain your good fortune from the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa only when Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī becomes pleased with you.

śrī-siddhānta saraswatī śacī-suta priya ati
kṛṣṇa-sebāya jāra tula nāi
sei se mohānta-guru jagater madhe uru
kṛṣṇa-bhakti dey ṭhāi ṭhāi

Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who is very dear to Lord Gaurāṅga, the son of mother Śacī, is unparalleled in his service to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is that great saintly spiritual master who bestows intense devotion to Kṛṣṇa at different places throughout the world.

Message of His Divine Grace

22 Mar 2011 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Back to Godhead, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Tags: Back to Godhead Nagazine, Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami, Gaudiya Vaisnavas, Lord Caitanya, Rupa-Raghunath

Message of His Divine Grace
from Back to GodHead Magizine 1944

His Divine Grace Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Moharaj the celebrated Acharya (Spiritual Head) of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas spoke the following few lines as His Message just a few days (23rd December, 1936) before His passing away from this mortal world.

“I have most probably given many people troubles in the mind. Some of them might have thought about me that I am their enemy because I was obliged to speak the plain truth for service and devotion towards the Absolute Godhead. I have given them all those troubles only for the reason that they may turn their face towards the Personality of Godhead without any desire for gain and with unalloyed devotion. I hope some day or other they may understand me rightly.”

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada’s Appearance Day Lecture

22 Feb 2011 1 Comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Lectures Tags: Allahabad, Calcutta, Gorakhpur, Goswami, Guru Maharaja, Maharaja, Mahatma Gandhi, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada’s
Appearance Day Lecture

Given by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at Gorakhpur, February 15, 1971 , Evening
710215BA.GOR

Prabhupäda: Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Mahäräja, my spiritual master, his advent day today. In 1922, I was at that time very much engaged in Congress activity. I was very much devout follower of Mahätmä Gandhi, and at that time, I was manager also in a very big chemical concern in Calcutta. Perhaps you may know, Dr. Bose’s laboratory. One of my friends—he’s still living, Sri Narendranath Mullik—he informed me that “One saintly person has come. Let us go and see.” At that time I was young man, and I did not care for very much about so-called saintly persons. Because in our house, my father used to receive so many sannyäsés, but some of them were not very to the standard, and due to my association with college friends, younger days, I lost my faith practically, although I was born in a Vaisnava family. My father was a pure Vaisnava. From my childhood, he gave me Rädhä-Kåñëa Deity for worshiping. A ratha… I was playing with my boyfriends, Ratha-yäträ, Òola, like that. My father encouraged. So I was trained up in this line, but in my youthful age, when I was college student, gradually, by their bad association or something, gradually, I lost my activities. But when this friend, Mr. Mullik, took me to Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvati Gosvämi Mahäräja, he immediately asked me that, “You are educated young boys. Why don’t you take up Lord Caitanya’s message and preach in the Western world?” In the very first sight, he told me. At that time, I argued with him that “We are dependent nation, and who is going to hear about our message?” So he defeated my argument. (aside:) There is no necessity of closing. Yes. He defeated my argument. He was learned scholar. What I was? I was still boy. So I agreed (chuckles) that I was defeated. So after finishing our visit with Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvati, I got some impression that “Here is a person who has taken Lord Caitanya’s message very seriously. Now it will be preached.” My friend asked my opinion, that “What is your opinion?” So I gave this opinion, that “Here is a person who has taken Lord Caitanya’s movement very seriously, and now it will be preached.”

Without the self-realized soul at its head…

13 Jan 2011 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Devotee's, Hansadutta das Tags: Hansadutta, pulpit, Putana, Srila Bhaktisiddanta, Srila Bhaktivinoda, Vani Vibhava

Without the self-realized soul at its head…
By Hansadutta Prabhu

“The heart has reasons that reason fails to understand.”—Blaise Pascal

When the Acharya comes, he gathers around him so many people, but they’re bringing their own baggage and cannot prevail. It seems to be the rule that a collection of disciples can go only so far before there’s an overwhelming of their past.

“O well-wisher of the devotees. May you obtain peace! The nature that the living entities have developed, according to their respective karma from birth after birth in this world, influences them to engage in fruitive activities. Until desires opposed to devotional service are destroyed from the heart, no amount of good instruction can bring any auspiciousness. Such instructions will simply come out of the ear-holes and will not enter into the heart. No amount of preaching to them or discussing devotional service will produce a good result because of their bad karma. Your discourses and discussions will therefore not yield any result. My order to you is that you should live at the place where I kept My dear Haridasa and where I loudly chanted the holy names of the Lord. You should constantly sing the glories of the holy names for the benefit of the fallen souls. As a result of the piety that people will achieve by hearing from you, and the faith they will develop, they will attain unduplicitious faith in pure devotional service in a future lifetime.”—Mahaprabhu to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur (Sri Bhaktivinoda Vani Vaibhava)

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day

24 Dec 2010 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Tags: dissapearance lecture, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, Srila Prabhupada

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta

His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day

Lecture by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at Los Angeles on December 9, 1969

So today is the disappearance day of my Guru Maharaja. As I told you that sadhavo jiva va mara va. There was a nice story the other day I told you that a sage is giving different kinds of blessings to different types of persons. So to a king’s son, a prince, he blessed, raja-putra ciram jiva: “You are a king’s son, a prince. You live forever.” And muni-putra, the son of a saintly person, he blessed him, ma jiva ma jiva: “You don’t live.” Raja-putra ciram muni-putra ma jiva. And sadhu, devotees, he blessed him, jiva va mara va: “Either you live or you die, as you like.” And there was a butcher, he blessed him, ma jiva ma mara: “You don’t die, don’t live.” So these words are very significant. That I have already explained, still I am explaining. A prince, he’s enjoying sense, that’s all. He has got enough facility for sense enjoyment. So his next life is hellish. Because if you indulge in sex life, then Krsna will give you facility to have sex life three times in an hour, just like the pigeons, the monkeys, the sparrows, they are very sexually strong. You have seen it. So the facility is given. So princely order, they are after sense enjoyment. So he’s blessed that “Better you live forever, because after your death, you do not know what is going to happen to you. You are going to get a hellish life. Better you live for some time. Go on with your enjoyment.” And muni-putra ma jiva. Brahmacari, working under the guidance, under strict disciplinary guidance, of a spiritual master, he is blessed, ma jiva, “You better die. Because you are so trained to enter into the kingdom of God, so why should you take so much trouble? Better you die and go back to Godhead.” Ma jiva. And a devotee he blessed, jiva va maro va: “My dear devotee, either you live or die, the same thing.” And the butcher, he blessed him, ma jiva ma mara: “You don’t live, don’t die.” What he’s to do? His living condition is so abominable. From the morning, he has to slaughter so many animals, see the bloodstain, the ghastly scene. That is his livelihood. So what a horrible life this is. So “Don’t live. And don’t die also.” Because after death, oh, he is going to be in so much hellish condition, nobody can describe. So both lives, living condition and death, after death, his condition is very horrible.

Sri Guru Is Present In All Things

09 Dec 2010 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

Sri Guru Is Present In All Things

by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada

Question 1: Are genuine saints (sadhus) respected in this world?

Answer: In a world full of duplicity, only duplicitous persons are honoured. Genuine saints, who do not lead the masses along the wrong path, are not respected in this world. In modern times, simply getting cheated by those who mislead the masses through a pretentious form of spiritual discourse has somehow emerged as the religion of the age (yuga-dharma). And because the true saints wish to expose wicked and unholy persons (asadhus), those same unholy cheaters bewilder the masses by condemning the true saints as unholy, duplicitous and thieves themselves in a ploy to secure their escape. The illusory potency of the Lord, maya, never allows the jivas to be sincere (niskapata) and to that end she has even devised various expert strategies for depriving the jivas of the association of genuine sadhus.

Question 2: Is it possible to have darsana of the Supreme Lord without first having darsana of sri guru?

Answer: Definitely not. Sri guru is the fully transcendent (aprakrta) temple of Sri Bhagavan, and Bhagavan always resides within that temple. Bhagavan Sri Krsna, who is controlled by love, manifests Himself within sadhu-guru and remains there always. It is written in the scriptures: srutim apare smrtim itare bharatam anye bhajantu bhava-bhitah aham iha nandam vande yasyalinde param brahma Padyavali (126) Others may serve the Srutis, Smrtis, the Mahabharata and other scriptures, fearing material existence, but I shall worship Nanda Maharaja, who is so great that the Supreme Brahman, the Absolute Truth Himself, plays in his courtyard. Many people present themselves as being highly eager to have darsana of Bhagavan, but they do not understand that darsana of Bhagavan is only possible through darsana of guru. Without having darsana of sri guru, having darsana of Bhagavan is not even imaginable. Even bhakti herself does not begin to manifest if the entity known as sri guru is not present. Sri guru is the sole medium by which we are connected to Sri Krsna and given direct audience of His lotus feet. And the way Sri Krsna demonstrates His infinite mercy is by sending the greatest Vaisnavas, His dear-most servants, to this world. Indeed, sri guru is the personification of Krnsa’s infinite mercy. Only he who teaches us about serving the Deity and the Holy Name is sri gurudeva. It is not sufficient to serve sri guru only with awe and reverence from a distance. We must serve sri guru with intimacy, that is, with deep love and faith (visrambha guru-seva), just as Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami intimately served Sri Svarupa Damodara Prabhu.

Question 3: What will happen to me if I forget sri guru?

Answer: The moment I deviate from sri guru, the moment I become forgetful of he who keeps me attracted to his lotus feet at every single moment, I will, without a doubt, diverge from the Truth. And when I am thus separated from sri guru, countless misgivings and deficiencies will engulf me. I shall simply spend my time bathing when I’m hot and bundling up when I’m cold. In other words, I will become more anxious to arrange for my own comfort than to serve sri gurudeva. If at the beginning of every year, every month, every day and every moment, I do not remember my gurudeva, who saves me from absorption in that which has no connection to my constitutional nature or are separate from krsna-bhakti, then I will definitely fall into greater and greater difficulty. I will try to present myself as guru and will be swallowed up by the ill-mentality of believing that others should worship me as such. This alone is dvitiya abhinivesa – infatuation with the worthless purposes of our unnatural state. To come and offer guru-puja just for one day is insufficient. It is our duty to serve gurudeva at every moment.

Question 4: Who sees shortcomings in the Vaisnavas?

Answer: Only those who are averse to hari-bhajana, and who are purely dependent on their material senses – their eyes, ears, nose and so on – which are doomed to perceive only the external aspect of things, look for faults in the Vaisnavas. In Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Sri Krsna has declared that a devotee of the Lord is never touched by inauspiciousness; he never perishes – na me bhaktah pranasyati (Srimad Bhagavad-gita 9.31). How can those who are engaged in exclusive bhajana of the Lord ever become degraded? Verily they attain only the greatest welfare. Because my vision is imperfect, I see faults in others. Thus I am unable to attain my own welfare. If I become completely dependent on the observations and perceptions of my senses, then I will be deprived of service to Adhoksaja – the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beyond the reach of the senses – and I will be deprived of service to sri gurudeva. It is because of my own dismal state that I allow my mind to happily dwell on the misfortune of others. I am only so attracted to finding faults in others because I myself am full of faults. If I am able to achieve my own welfare, then no time will remain for seeing faults in others.

Question 5: Is sri guru present in everything?

Answer: Yes. The acaryas who comprise our asraya-jatiya guru-varga* are present in various forms in order to bestow mercy upon us. All these forms are manifestations of sri gurudeva himself – he who imparts transcendental knowledge (divya-jnana). The image of the jagad-guru is reflected in various idealistic entities. My sri gurudeva is being reflected in every entity. The visaya-jatiya aspect of Krsna (Krsna as the object of love) is one half of the Absolute Reality. The other half is the asraya-jatiya aspect (wherein love of God takes shelter). The completeness of the Absolute Reality exists in the variegatedness of the transcendental pastimes of these two aspects. The complete perception of the visaya-jatiya aspect is Sri Krsna, and the complete perception of the asraya-jatiya aspect is my sri gurudeva. The transcendental reflection of the asraya-jatiya aspect in all the conscious cosmic manifestation is the manifestation of my gurudeva alone, in diverse forms. He who teaches us at every moment that we should engage in serving Bhagavan for our entire life is certainly sri gurudeva. This very same gurudeva is reflected in the heart of every living being. He is present in every single entity in his asraya-jatiya aspect.

* The line of pure gurus in whose hearts Sri Bhagavan resides

Question 6: When does someone attain a sphurti (momentary vision) of Bhagavan in his heart?

Answer: By good fortune, someone may perceive sri gurudeva wandering in his heart – that is to say, he may have darsana of sri gurudeva in his heart. Only in such a pure heart does the momentary vision (sphurti) of Bhagavan take place. There is no other means to attain service to the Supreme Lord than serving and pleasing sri guru, he who inspires us to engage in serving Sri Bhagavan by all means and in every activity.

Question 7: If I do not completely surrender to the lotus feet of sri guru, am I simply deceiving myself?

Answer: Definitely. I may consider that I have received mantra from guru, but in real terms, if I am not prepared to accept full shelter at the lotus feet of sri gurudeva, then to whatever extent I act with duplicity, I will be cheated. Translated by the Rays of The Harmonist team from Srila Prabhupadera Upadesamrta Questions re-numbered for this on-line presentation

Translated by the Rays of The Harmonist team
from Srila Prabhupadera Upadesamrta
Questions re-numbered for this on-line presentation