Heart and Halo
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![Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/historical/tn/tn_sbrs_maharja.jpg)
We are far from the truth when we cannot see that everything, all waves, are flowing towards the satisfaction of one: Svayam Bhagavān. We are labouring under a deception. We are deceivers who are not just deceiving ourselves but the world also. We are guilty of misunderstanding everything and of carrying that false knowledge to others...
Fulfillment is in Love
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![Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/historical/tn/tn_srila_bhaktiraksaka.jpg)
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took shelter in the plane of jnana-sunya-bhakti. There our guardians will take care of us wholesale. To live under His guardianship is the best position for so many tiny souls. Give the responsibility of your own charge to the highest guardian. That is the most peaceful life, according to jnana-sunya-bhakti – surrender to such extremity, to such extent as forgetfulness of everything in the grace of the Almighty. To live there, in the automatic section of the world is the highest goal for living entities like us...
Lokanatha Mahadeva
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/lectures/tn/tn_lecture20040816_e_sm.jpg)
You are very lucky. If anyone comes here, or even takes a vow, that “I will go to Ksetra-mandala, Nilacala (Jagannatha-ksetra) or Bhubanesvara,” and if he dies before his vow is completed, still he will get the fruit. He will become four-handed. What relationship do you want with Lord Krsna?
Experiencing a Higher Taste
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/lectures/tn/tn_gurudevaforhightertaste1.jpg)
[Question:] Since we spirit souls haven't fallen from Krsna's pastimes in Goloka Vrndavana, why do the scriptures say we ‘revive' our relationship with Krsna, or that we have ‘forgotten' that relationship? Since we have never experienced it, what is the question of ‘reviving' or ‘forgetting' it?
Darshan On Guru Tattva
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/g/1/a/tn/tn_29.jpg)
If one's guru is not qualified, then, taking his permission, the disciple should at once take initiation from a higher rank of guru. This is not an offense. If that guru is not giving permission, he should at once be given up and the disciple should take proper initiation. This is because that guru is not a Vaisnava...
Guru Tattva: Real And Apparent
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/g/1/a/tn/tn_30.jpg)
You should understand who is a real guru. He is the abode of bhakti, and he has all kinds of serving moods towards Radha-Krishna Conjugal or Mahaprabhu. He can give sadhana-bhakti, and he can also give rati - a high class of rati. If he is qualified to even give prema-bhakti in Goloka Vrindavana, and the love and affection of Conjugal Radha-Krishna, can he fall down?
A Response To The Ritvik System
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/lectures/tn/tn_beautiful_gurudeva.jpg)
Without accepting diksa from a bona fide guru, can one develop bhakti or not? Some think that chanting, remembering, reading books, and performing arcana, sravanam and kirtanam is sufficient and there is no need for a mediator. They think that accepting a 'ritvik' person is sufficient for attaining pure bhakti, and there is no need of accepting diksa from any living self-realized guru...
The Holy Name and Anti-Pollution
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![Pancattava](/images/stories/lectures/tn/tn_pancatattva3.jpg)
If you are abusing anyone, criticizing anyone, or quarreling with anyone, these sounds will evaporate in the air and it go throughout the whole universe. If you are speaking any nonsense it will not 'go in vain.' It will go throughout the whole world by air. An example may be given of a big pond....
Is Gurudeva His Institution?
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/lectures/g/tn/tn_gurudeva_jaya.jpg)
Once, someone said to Gurudeva, Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, "Those who have left the Gaudiya Mission have left Srila Prabhupada's teachings." Gurudeva replied, "We have never left Srila Prabhupada, we will never leave, and in the future we will continue to serve. Let us see what happens in the future....
You May Speak Further
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/lectures/tn/tn_lecture20040810.jpg)
Sri Ramananda Raya then suggested sva-dharma-tyaga, giving up one’s occupational duty. Ultimately, even if one wants to offer the fruits of ones worldly activities to Krsna, since Krsna actually owns everything, what can one actually offer to Him? Everything belongs to Krsna, and therefore one should simply renounce and leave one’s material designation in varnasrama. One should be very careful to avoid anything that is against bhakti...
Guru-sevā Is Essential
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![Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja](/images/stories/g/1/a/tn/tn_12.jpg)
If we accept only guru and not guru-paramparā there will be problems [in our spiritual life] and divya-jñāna will not manifest. Therefore we also worship guru-paramparā on the day of Vyāsa-pūjā. Nityānanda Prabhu was waiting for Mahāprabhu...
Natural Love
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/lectures/tn/tn_lecture20040806_sm.jpg)
This behavior of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu cannot be imitated. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would do parikrama, He would have a direct vision of the pastimes of Srimati Radhika and Sri Krsna. So we cannot imitate Him. This stage will come naturally if we follow the process of bhakti. Do not try to jump over the stages in the progressive development of bhakti – sraddha, bhajana kriya, anartha nivritti, nista, ruci, asakti and bhava. In this way some realization will begin to come...
The Benefits of Feeling Utterly Insignificant
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/lectures/tn/tn_lecture20040808.jpg)
Great souls have one-pointed faith, determination, enthusiasm and complete conviction in the service of Lord Krsna; and they want to distribute this to others. But who can receive such mercy? Only those who feel themselves to be utterly insignificant. Those who receive the mercy of Vaisnavas can become successful in their life and realize the service of the Lord. Without the mercy of Vaisnavas this is not possible...
Praying To The Pastime Personalities
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![Paurnamasi](/images/stories/lectures/tn/tn_Paurnamasi.jpg)
We should pray to madhurya-bhakti, which lives in the gopis, and among the gopis, Srimati Radhika is the embodiment of hladini-sakti (Sri Krsna's pleasure potency). When hladini-sakti and samvit-sakti mix together, that essence is called lila-sakti, or Yogamaya. If we pray to this Yogamaya, Paurnamasi, who is a manifestation of Srimati Radhika, she will arrange that a chain of pastimes will automatically manifest in our hearts...
The Repository of Jewels
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![Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja](/images/stories/lectures/tn/tn_lecture20040806_sm.jpg)
Here, the rain of svati-naksatra is Sri Ramananda Raya’s explanation of all bhakti-siddhanta. When the clouds of Ramananda Raya sprinkled the rain of explanation on the ocean of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, His heart became the repository of jewels. Those jewels were the "anubhava yukta siddhanta"...
The Glories of Gopal Bhatta Gosvami
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![Sri Radha Raman](/images/stories/lectures/rk/tn/tn_radharaman2.jpg)
First let us glorify Gopal Bhatta Gosvami. During Caturmasya-vrata Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to South India, to the Ranganathji temple. He began to dance and perform kirtana there, and all were attracted. The members of a very holy family met Him there, and they requested Him, "Please stay at our residence for these four months of Caturmasya, and after that You can go anywhere else...
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