Loving Autocracy (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

Today we celebrate yet another incarnation of The Absolute: Sri Rama. He comes as the gentle warrior, the righteous king, the perfect husband, and the lord of 'vairagya': dispassion, detachment, self-control, or in afro-american english, 'cool'. This is Srila Gurumaharaj about Sri Rama as the perfect king, and the difference between spiritual leadership and mundane. Happy Rama Navami!

"Sri Ramacandra has come to teach us that one can love all those who have taken full responsibility, from the core of your heart, and build up with them a very loving environment of spiritual service."

"Please don't think that we are promoting a dictatorial style of imposition of anyone on top of others, this is not the meaning of autocracy in accordance of the spiritual community. We are talking here of the common ground being representative by the common interests, in the vision of the mature conclusion of the spiritually responsible person. I always give the example that how ever democratic we may be, at the time of driving, one person holds the steering wheel, and not five or six."

"The relationship with our leaders has to be not only nice, it has to be very loving. And very trusting. And very dedicated. Then it is becoming a real relationship. Then it is becoming something substantial we can build upon."

Rama Navami Celebration

On Saturday 28 March we celebrate yet another incarnation 

of The Absolute – Sri Rama. The gentle warrior, the righteous king, the perfect husband, and the lord of 'vairagya': dispassion, detachment, self-control, or in afro-american english, 'cool'

We will sing bhajans, Swami B.A. Sridhar Maharaj visits from Poland and gives lecture, there will be arati (altar ceremony), 
and afterwards prasadam is served (sanctified food)

We start at 17.00

The feast does not cost anything but donations are gladly accepted

Welcome to Nimaihuset and celebrate with us!

Q & A with Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj

Questions and answers with Srila Gurumaharaj from Mayapur earlier this month. All kinds of. 

Service — Samadhi* — Lila** (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

When you engage yourself, under the guidance of your spiritual master, 
in transcendental welfare work, and you do so without a selfish motive 
but rather as a service real, without any hidden agenda, then this becomes samadhi.

— Srila B A Paramadvaiti Maharaj, today

* Samadhi — Ecstatic state of consciousness in which the mind becomes completely still, one-pointed or concentrated, and the consciousness of the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object.
 

**Lila — Divine play

________________________
 
 Some blog posts on service:

“I want to serve You, I want to be with You” (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)
“By service” (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

So the real current is His pastimes (Srila Sridhar Mahraj)

Service, service, service (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)

Two instructions (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu)

Service to the Absolute  (Srila B.B. Tirtha Maharaj)

Service, Beauty (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)
Service (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj) 
Doing what you want to do  (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj) 
Devotional service is on an Absolute level (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj) 

In a particular direction (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)

Excerpt from Follow the Angels

Srila Srdihar Maharaj – Vaisnava

In the Vaisnava [devotee], the truth is animated more than in the vigraha [Deity], the tirtha [holy place of pilgrimage], or the sastra [scriptures].We find a direct connection with Krsna in the consciousness of a Vaisnava. We find that which is regulating all his activities and withdrawing him from worldly attraction, guiding him towards some unknown and most desirable direction. He is moving towards that direction. The Lord is making him move in a particular direction that cannot be traced by any loss or gain of this world. 

What is that thing?

Living the essence (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

"The bhagavata vidhi [bhagavata way of approaching Krishna] is something totally outside of the common. The bhagavata vidhi is the realization portion, it is the internal development. [–] It's the path of living the essence. [–] It's not an artificial stage, it is something that can only be reached by realization. [–] It will be seen by the results, alone." 

"It's beyond rules and regulations, but it's sustained by rules and regulations. [–] You can not put hard and fast rules on kindness, on love. They don't fit. They frustrate the whole. [–] You have to understand what is the meaning of something. Just following an external ritual, it doesn't mean you've realized anything about it. [–] The reading of the Srimad Bhagavatam is a training for becoming a better servant, so if there is some more important service to be done right now, I may not go to class. [–] We have to be attached to the essence, not to the form." 

"You make the advancement by your wish to serve. The more you serve, the more you advance." 

"To get the real thing, the real essence of it, you have to dive deeply into the very substance. And what is that substance? It's devotional service, my friend. It's when you start thinking for God, when you start making plans for God, when you're inspired to be with God, in God, and do wonderful things. That's when life starts getting interesting, that's when we are going the path back Home, back to God."

Gauranga Karuna Koro (Rasa)

Happy Gaura Purnima! Gauranga Karuna Koro by Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura, in modern but congenial interpretation by Rasa. All glories to Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – Nimai!

LYRICS:

Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Painting)

A rare actual painting of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Nimai) Himself. Apparently after having taken sannyasa, in saffron robes and shaved head. According to the sole, sparse information about it, it was drawn by an artist ordered by one Maharaja Partip Rudra, when He was staying in Gambhira, Puri.

For those who want to get a little into the subject of the secret Avatar Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, here is the link to a documentary about Him:

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu — The Golden Avatara

And here to Sri Siksastakam, His eight verses of instruction, the only thing written by Him that this superior scholar left behind, with deep-diving purport by Srila Sridhar Maharaj:

Sri Siksastakam — Translation and Illumination by Srila Sridhar Maharaj

And here to His deep- and high-reaching two instructions from Caitanya-caritamrta:

Two Instructions

Doing what you want to do (Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj)

"I don't want to relax, I don't want any vacation from this. I don't. I want to either chant, or read, or serve, or clean, or cook, or distribute. I want devotional service non-stop. Because I know that's the best for me, and I know that only this way I'll be with Krishna non-stop. It's like doing what you want to do. The greatest blessing in your life, is if you are allowed to do what you want to do. That is called pure spontaneous devotional service. When you do something which you want to do. It may not be pleasant, but you do it because you want to do it. [– – –] So much freedom is there."

– Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj, morning class in Berlin, 25 Dec 2011

Gaura Purnima Celebration

 Gaura Purnima – the appearance day of 
Sri Krishna Chaitanya, “The Hidden Avatar”,
as a child known as Nimai!

Saturday 7th March

Sri Krishna Chaitanya is Krishna Himself — The Absolute, Source, The Supreme Spirit/Light/Consciousness, God — incarnating “secretly” in the form of a devotee of Himself, for the double purpose of experiencing His devotees’ ecstatic love for Him, 
and to show the conditioned souls how to be a devotee

We will sing bhajans, there will be a lecture about Nimai, abisheka (ceremonial bathing of the Nimai Deity), arati (Deity greeting), and afterwards some fine prasadam (sanctified vegetarian food)!

We start at 17.00

The feast does not cost anything but donations are gladly accepted

Warm welcome!