Jaya Jaya Shiva Shambho

Happy Shiva Ratri!

Gratefulness and love - Gurumaharaj from Mayapur this morning

From Mayapur

"Service is a kind of prayer" - Gurumaharaj in Mayapur today

From Mayapur

 

"Service is a kind of prayer."

"The guru is a very important representative of what you're looking for. And you always have to accept the best guru. In other words, if you have a guru that is not teaching you the highest then you should get one that teaches you the highest."

"We are learning how to become one with the one we want to give our love to, in service; we want to connect with Krishna in service, and in this way be connected to Him and live in Him and live with Him. And then He does whatever He wants to do with that. [---] He is very concrete, and very wonderful."

Shiva Ratri

This friday we honour Lord Shiva, Gopīśvara Mahādeva — the foremost Vaishnava, gatekeeper of Vrindavan, and helper of Krishna-devotees. We will sing the Shiva-mantra, read about Him, and sing some more. 

There will be no prasadam served since we observe fasting for Lord Shiva to get His blessings on the path of Krishna-bhakti. 

Bring flowers and fruits to offer to Lord Shiva and come sing with us and hear about Him.

PLACE: Nimaihuset

DAY: Friday February 28

TIME: 19.00 

Vrindavanvani-pate jaya soma soma 

maule sanandana-sanatana-naradeya 

gopishvara vraja-vilasi-yuganghri-padme

prema prayaccha nirupadhi namo namas te 

[O Shiva, O gatekeeper of Vrindavan! O you who are accompanied by Uma! O you who carry the moon in your hair! O lord worshiped by Sananda Kumara, Sanat Kumara and Narada Muni! O Gopisvara, the worshipable deity of the gopis! Desiring that you bestow upon me love for the divine couple, Sri Sri Radha Madhava, who perform joyous pastimes in Vraja, I offer my obeisances unto you again and again.] 

— Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura, Sri Sankalpa-Kalpadrum

Om Namah Shivaya

Commitments (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

From the Sweden mela 2011

 

 "Commitment is an unwritten contract. You can write many contracts – people do that all the time, and usually they turn out failure, because there was no commitment. So we are not talking about contracts. As a matter of fact, in spiritual life we don't sign any contracts. [---] Commitment is something which is related to the unwritten; it is the heartfelt issue. If you're committed to something or to someone, then you will be faithful. And you stick to it. Because you're committed. [---] Real commitment is not intellectual – "I'll do it because I promised", no. Commitment is something that goes deep inside the heart. And because it's inside of your heart, it's something which is motivated and generated and inspired and guided by love."

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's Appearance Day: The Universal Teacher

Today is the Appearance Day of His Divine Grace Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada, the guru of, among others, Srila Prabhupada, Srila Sridhar Maharaj and Srila Puri Maharaj – the three gurus of our gurudeva, Srila Paramadvaiti Maharaj. We observe it with this inspiring biographical documentary.

The speaker: 
"During the early part of the 20th century there occurred a unique event in the spiritual history of modern India. In a remote village on the banks of the sacred Ganga there resided a distinguished personality who would, in due course, do more to help raise the consciousness of human civilization than any other person at this time."
And at the end:
"Krishna Consciousness is the eternal consciousness of the soul. It is not limited by race, colour, or a particular society. Krishna Consciousness is universal, and those who understand this are indeed fortunate."

Service (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

Gurumaharaj audio lecture from the Mallorca mela last august, on His main teaching, service. 

 

"Those who do service with love and surrender, who are actually trying to please the Lord and to do all these things which are required to please Him, they're completely blessed. They're so blessed, that they will get prema-bhakti if the Lord wishes. There is no hesitance. They don't have to come another lifetime to just study all the books." 
(Quoting the Svetasvatara Upanisad 6:23:)
"When you render service under the spiritual master with love and devotion, all the import of the vedic transcendental wisdom will be automatically revealed to you."

Nityananda and Guru-Tattva (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)

On the celebration day in Nimaihuset of Nityananda Trayodasi:

 

Excerpt from Sri Guru and His Grace

By Srila Sridhar Maharaj

The tyranny of the mind

A few times I have dreamt that I seriously considered that God might actually exist. There is a difference between doing so casually, even believing in Him casually, and fully tasting what it means. These dreams filled me with hope and childlike joy. If He really exists, then I have the greatest friend, there is nothing to worry about! However, considering the same while awake instead gives rise to so many ifs and buts:

Nityananda Trayodasi: Lord Nityananda's blind mercy (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)

Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu is there to consolidate the ground, the foundation. That will help us to make further progress. Speedy progress without a good foundation may invite reactions. Our foundation comes from Nityānanda Prabhu, Gurudeva. That the foundation will not go away is the primary necessity. 

Lord Nityananda's Appearance Day: Nitai-Pada-Kamala - Singing and Purport by Srila Prabhupada

*
"Without becoming Brahman, one cannot approach the Supreme Brahman. 

Just like without being fire, nobody can enter into the fire. Without being water, nobody can enter into the water. Similarly, without being fully spiritualized, nobody can enter into the spiritual kingdom."

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Divine Sound (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

Gurumaharaj in the Berlin temple on Christmas day 2011, giving a great class on worship of divine sound. Deepens the understanding of self-realization by chanting the Maha Mantra and speaking harikatha (talk about Krishna and subjects relating to Krishna). From 02:25.

3 Gurumaharaj vids from Berlin (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

Activism

On true and false engagement. 

"Any violent element is out. It's just love and consciousness. Love and consciousness."

Different kinds of heaven

Know your destination.

Chauvinism - male or female

Gurumaharaj intertwining harikatha (talk of Krishna and subjects related to Him) and modern material world issues, the subtext as always being love.

Nityananda Trayodasi Celebration!

 

Nityananda Trayodasi celebration 

on saturday february 15th at 5 PM!

Lord Nityananda, who is Balarama, Krishna's first expansion, is the original spiritual master, the source of spiritual strength, and 

the most merciful, even more merciful than Krishna Himself. 

On saturday we celebrate His appearance day. There will be

singing of bhajans, lecture, ceremonial Deity bathing, 

and afterwards some fine vegetarian prasadam.

We start at 5 PM.

Warm welcome to Nimaihuset!

Waking from the dream (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)

Excerpt from Awakening to the Absolute

By Srila Sridhar Maharaj

 

"Just as from one candle another candle may be lit" 

(Srila Sridhar Maharaj and disciple)