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The Beauty of the Lord

23 Sep 2015 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Krishna, Krsna Consciousness, Srimad Bhagavatam Tags: A. C. Bhakthvedanta Swami Prabhupada, Autumn, lotus flower, SB 4.24.52

My dear Lord, Your two lotus feet are so beautiful that they appear like two blossoming petals of the lotus flower which grows during the autumn season. Indeed, the nails of Your lotus feet emanate such a great effulgence that they immediately dissipate all the darkness in the heart of a conditioned soul. My dear Lord, kindly show me that form of Yours which always dissipates all kinds of darkness in the heart of a devotee. My dear Lord, You are the supreme spiritual master of everyone; therefore all conditioned souls covered with the darkness of ignorance can be enlightened by You as the spiritual master. (SB 4.24.52)

…The beauty of the lotus feet of the Lord is compared to the petals of a lotus flower which grows in the autumn season. By nature’s law, in autumn the dirty or muddy waters of rivers and lakes become very clean. At that time the lotus flowers growing in the lakes appear very bright and beautiful. The lotus flower itself is compared to the lotus feet of the Lord, and the petals are compared to the nails of the feet of the Lord. The nails of the feet of the Lord are very bright, as Brahma-saṁhitā testifies. Ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya: [Bs 5.32] every limb of the transcendental body of the Lord is made of ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala. Thus every limb is eternally bright. As sunshine dissipates the darkness of this material world, the effulgence emanating from the body of the Lord immediately dries up the darkness in the heart of the conditioned soul. In other words, everyone serious about understanding the transcendental science and seeing the transcendental form of the Lord must first of all attempt to see the lotus feet of the Lord by studying the First and Second Cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. When one sees the lotus feet of the Lord, all kinds of doubts and fears within the heart are vanquished. (from purport)

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Lunch with the Lord

23 Sep 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Ecstasy, Krishna Nectar, Spiritual Life, Vrndavana Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, divine ecstasies, Krishna's friends, Krsna, Krsna-katha, lotus flower, lunch with krssn, Pariksit, SB 10, Srila Prabhupada's divine ecstasies, Srimad Bhagavatam, Sukadeva Goswami, whorl of a lotus flower

Today, being Monday, and the start of another workday week, I wanted to focus my mind, not on all the work ahead, but rather, on some Krishna Nectar from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam. We share with you a few of Srila Prabhupada’s divine ecstasies. As we mentioned is a previous post, there are two kṛṣṇa-kathās; narrations spoken by Kṛṣṇa, and narrations spoken about Kṛṣṇa. Please note text 5 & 6 which is spoken by Krsna.

…devotees who have accepted the essence of life, are attached to Kṛṣṇa in the core of their hearts, and He is the aim of their lives. It is their nature to talk only of Kṛṣṇa at every moment, as if such topics were newer and newer.

Like the whorl of a lotus flower surrounded by its petals and leaves, Kṛṣṇa sat in the center, encircled by lines of His friends, who all looked very beautiful. Every one of them was trying to look forward toward Kṛṣṇa, thinking that Kṛṣṇa might look toward him. In this way they all enjoyed their lunch in the forest.

Among the cowherd boys, some placed their lunch on flowers, some on leaves, fruits, or bunches of leaves, some actually in their baskets, some on the bark of trees and some on rocks. This is what the children imagined to be their plates as they ate their lunch.

Srimad Bhagavatam
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Canto 10, Chapter 13, Text 1-12

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Honey, which is Transcendentally Relished by the Devotees

22 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Honey Tags: A.C. Bhaktiveanta Swami Prabhupada, bee-mind, devotees, honey from the lotus flower, Lord Krsna, lotus, lotus feet of the Lord, lotus flower, lotus honey, Palace of Gold, Prabhupada's Palace, pure devotees, Srimad Bhagavatam

This last week we harvested some of the honey from our bee hives, and as we extracted it I was in awe of its beautiful golden color. After we offered some of it to the Lord, we sampled its taste and it was amazing, not of this world. They must be devotee bees’s gathering the nectar from the lotus flowers and rose gardens at Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, here at New Vrindavan. The taste and texture was other-worldly, and remarkable. So I thought I would take a moment to to find some references on honey from Srila Prabhupada’s Books.

The pure devotees are always hankering after the lotus feet of the Lord. The lotus has a kind of honey which is transcendentally relished by the devotees. They are like the bees who are always after the honey. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, the great devotee ācārya of the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava-sampradāya, has sung a song about this lotus honey, comparing himself to the bee:

“O my Lord Kṛṣṇa, I beg to offer my prayers unto You. My mind is like the bee, and it is after some honey. Kindly, therefore, give my bee-mind a place at Your lotus feet, which are the resources for all transcendental honey.” (SB 1.11.26)

When the Lord entered the forest of Vṛndāvana, all the inhabitants of the forest, both animate and inanimate, were eager to receive Him. He saw that the flowers of the forest, all fully blossoming, were weeping in ecstasy, honey flowing down their petals. The waterfalls on the hilly rocks were gladly flowing, and one could hear sweet sounds from the caves nearby. (Light of the Bhagavata text 24)

The Vision of Lotuses

17 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Krishna, Teachings of Queen Kunti Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, garland of lotus flowers, lotus feet, lotus flower, Personality of Godhead, SB 1.8.22, spiritual body, Srimad Bhagavatam, symbolic marks, Teachings of Queen Kunti, The Vision of Lotuses

Teachings of Queen Kuntī
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Chapter Five

The Vision of Lotuses

namaḥ paṅkaja-nābhāya
namaḥ paṅkaja-māline
namaḥ paṅkaja-netrāya
namas te paṅkajāṅghraye

My respectful obeisances are unto You, O Lord, whose abdomen is marked with a depression like a lotus flower, who are always decorated with garlands of lotus flowers, whose glance is as cool as the lotus, and whose feet are engraved with lotuses. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.22

Here are some of the specific symbolical marks on the spiritual body of the Personality of Godhead which distinguishes His body from the bodies of all others. They are all special features of the body of the Lord. The Lord may appear as one of us, but He is always distinct by His specific bodily features.