You know Krsna, you know everything (Srila Prabhupada)

Lecture by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
given in Seattle, October 4, 1968 

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You are a scientist? All right, it doesn't matter. By your scientific research work you find out the Supreme, then it is your perfection. You are businessman? Oh. With your money just find out the Supreme. You are a lover? Just find out the supreme lover. You are after taste, aesthetic sense, beauty? If you find out the Supreme, your searching after beauty will be satisfied.

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So we are interested in capturing the original person. (chuckles) We are not interested with any subordinate. Govindam adi-purusam [Govinda the Original Person]. But if one can capture the original person, then he captures everyone. Just like the same example. In the Vedas it is said, in the Upanisad: yasmin vijnate sarvam evam vijnatam bhavanti. ["Try to find the one by knowing whom everything is known"]. If you can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead or the Absolute Truth, then you understand everything. There is no need of understanding separately. Yasmin vijnate sarvam etam vijnatam bhavanti. Similarly, in the Bhagavad-gita also it is said,

yam labdhva caparam labham
manyate nadhikam tatah
yasmin sthito na duhkhena

gurunapi vicalyate

[Bhagavad Gita 6.20-23]
 

["Upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty"]

Prema Satsang with Swami B.A. Sridhar Maharaj – Saturday 29 November

 Welcome to Satsang with Swami B.A. Sridhar Maharaj,  

coming straight from Vrindavan!

Saturday 29th November, 17.00.

We will sing bhajans, Sridhar Maharaj gives lecture, 

and afterwards prasadam will be served.

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The Satsang does not cost anything but donations are gladly accepted.

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Swami B.A. Sridhar Maharaj is a disciple of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,

sannyasa-disciple of Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj, 
and an old and dear friend of Nimaihuset.

Vasudeva dropped paint

The temple entrance with the new artwork

On his way in to Nimaihuset to meet Brahma-Samhita for a joint art session, Vasudeva dropped a big tin of white paint just outside the entrance. With a mix of devotional mind and artistic skills the two soon transformed the goof into a new entrance artwork: a crown with a mandala in the middle, according to Brahma denoting that Nimai is the king of Gothenburg.  

The clear lakes of autumn in the saintly land of Vraja (3)

“Thus the Vrndavana forest was filled with transparent autumnal waters and cooled by breezes perfumed with the fragrance of lotus flowers growing in the clear lakes.”

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura: “The wind became fragrant and cool by passing over the the lotus filled lakes. Krsna, along with His cows and cowherd boys, entered the forest permeated by this sweetly scented breeze. The word vayuna (wind) is singular instead of plural to indicate a very gentle breeze.”

— Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, Sarartha Darsini (Srimad Bhagavatam, Tenth Canto Commentaries), chapter 21, text 1.

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So the Vrndavana forest is filled with transparent autumnal lakes where fragrant lotus flowers grow, and when the very gentle wind passes over these lotus filled lakes, it catches the fragrance of the flowers and the cool of the water, and the forest becomes permeated by this sweetly scented breeze... 

(2 earlier posts on “the clear lakes of autumn in the saintly land of Vraja” here and here.)

Balaram plows the earth – Preparing ground to receive Bhakti (By Vasudeva Das)

Balarama ploughing by the Yamuna

Dandavats to all Vaishanvas who reads this. I offer my prayers that I will not cloud this article too much with my own mind and flawed translations when referring to certain quotes. If any fault is found, please reveal them to me so i can correct them. I offer this as an offering to my Gurudeva Swami BA Paramadvaiti Maharaj on His Vyasapuja. 

If someone reads this who is not so aquainted with the vaishnava terminology I think google actually can answer any word that seems foreign.

Some devotees of Krishna might wonder why some other devotees of Krishna are talking so much about ecology or vegetarianism and even apparently turn to the field of politics, like peace and environmental meetings etc, in such questions. Why not just stay in the nectar of lila-katha, japa or tattva-katha? Have they gone astray? 

Vem är Mahatma (stor personlighet)?

Svenska:

Bhakti yogi mästaren Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur (1626 –1708) ger oss insikt i denna hyllade text:

 1. Mahat ("stor personlighet") - En stor person har förmågan att se något fint i alla. Dom ser också fel i andra men de är övertygade att dessa fel kan gradvist transformeras till goda kvaliteer med hjälp utav vissa metoder.
Om dom därför anser att personen kan gynnas av att diskutera deras fel, kan dom, under rätta omständigheter, tala hårda ord. Neem blads juice smakar oerhört bittert men den kan bota sjukdommar om den andvänds rätt. Det bör poängteras att en Mahat kommer aldrig att förkasta eller avvisa en person med fel utan tänker endast hur personen ifråga kan gynnas.

How important are we? (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

Evening class by Gurumaharaj in Vrindavan, 22nd February 2007. 

"How important are we? That is actually only answerable in connection with the cause of our existence. The cause, supposively, is an indicator to the purpose. And when the purpose is fulfilled, and the cause is thus satisfied, we can thus define what was the value." (0.26)

"What is the value of us, by ourselves? What is the value of our activities, for ourselves? Where does the concept of value arise?" (3.51)

"Who are you?, to begin with, so that we can study this topic. All of this leads us to the greatest of all needs: self realization. Or, we don't do anything about it: we spend our time buying hats, pants, shirts, jewellery, entertaining ourselves in the diverse items of this world, but we don't spend any time on self realization. Thus our life is flowing by, fast, and we have not yet questioned ourselves the most essential of all questions: Who am I, and what is making my existence so valuable?" (4.46)

"You do have definitely an independent movement. And by that independent movement you came to sit here tonight to listen to me talk." (10.03)

"There's nothing more beautiful, nor more auspicious, than the Truth. The Truth is auspicious and beautiful. And through cit, through consciousness, through awareness, you can define Where is my path? Where is my path towards the Truth which is beautiful and auspicious?" (11.15)

Make me a channel of Your peace (Sinead O'Connor)

Oh my Lord please let me be an Instrument of Your Love! This is a prayer sung by our beloved Gurumaharaj and his disciples the world over. Whilst meditating on this recently I was reminded of a lovely prayer attributed to thirteenth century monk Saint Francis of Assisi. Known as Make me a channel of Your peace, or more simply as the Saint Francis Prayer. It has helped me expand on and gain insight into what it means to be an Instrument of Divine will. Sung beautifully here by Sinead O'Connor this prayer was made part of the morning devotions by Mother Teresa in her world mission. It has been widely adopted by popes, mystics, swamis, world leaders, celebrities and lay folk alike. While not necessarily claiming a place in Nimaihuset's Hare Krishna top 10 this song certainly deserves a place in the heart. Hope you enjoy...

/ Subala das 

Haribol!

Bhakta Tom...