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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝In happiness and distress, in dissent and calamity, in every situation, we have to call out, weeping, to Śrī Gurudeva, Śrī Gauracandra and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa at every moment. If we are calling out to them sincerely, they will surely bestow their mercy. However, we face obstacles in our calling out.❞ ..
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝The terms jīva-sevā (service to other entities) and jīva-prema (eternal love for other entities) are fictions, contrary to conclusive truth, and are illogical. One will never attain the result of service to Śrī Bhagavān by serving the conditioned souls’ gross senses and becoming a regular purveyor of their bodily and mental demands. One can never attain a transcendental life of service by serving that which is inert or loving the illusory objects produced by māyā.❞ ...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
❝Factually, our restricted perspective in relation to the phenomenal domain should not be imposed on the Personality of a thoroughly Independent Integer. The Personality of Godhead is to be humbly approached, not subjected to our sensuous inspection, as though He were an accused in the court. We should accept that all existences are, and ought to be, His own. This method of approach is known as unalloyed theism.❞ ...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝To refute misconceptions is guru-sevā. If, at any point, one can understand that someone is giving misleading teachings, one should, in a civil manner, refute them and establish the faultless siddhānta. Doing so is the ideal of conviction in service to guru. If, despite knowing and hearing the truth, one conceals it, hypocrisy finds its outlet, and that entails a lapse of duty. This (refuting someone’s views) is never contrary to humility or amānī-mānada-dharma.❞ ...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝The renunciation by which the body becomes completely useless and which awakens impediments to hari-bhajana is not favourable for bhakti. You must accept bhagavat-prasāda appropriately. It is indeed proper to accept all the objects of the senses that are essential for one’s well-being, in a manner that is favourable for one’s kṛṣṇa-bhajana.❞ ...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
❝It is essential to have full confidence in Bhagavan. It is equally essential to have similar firm determination to perform hari-bhajana, the process of devotional service. I must receive His grace. I must not go astray. I must always go on chanting His name. God will undoubtedly help me if I am bona fide.❞ ...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝Within your mind, you should always reside in Vraja or Śrī Dhāma Navadvīpa. In other words, you should always think about those places. Try to enter into the message of the Gosvāmīs. By performing harināma and hearing hari-kathā with prīti (affection), all perfection is attained. This is the opinion of the scriptures.❞ ..
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝When one reads spiritual texts on one’s own, often one does not attain the real result of hearing and reciting hari-kathā. That is why it remains imperative for one to hear the sounds issuing from the mouths of sādhu and guru. Only within a siddha (perfected) mantra is all potency manifest, and only that yields special results. Hence, there is more benefit and welfare contained within hari-kathā issuing from the mouths of the devotees [than from spiritual texts]. Dry skeptics who are bereft of sādhu-saṅga are incapable of appreciating the necessity and attracting potency of sādhu-saṅga.❞ ...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
❝Devotion to God is attained by associating with those who serve both Him and His devotees. They have made service to God the very essence of their life. They have made the narrations of the names, appearance, attributes and sports of God the mainstay of their existence and they are always engaged in discoursing about them.❞ ...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝At the time of Ratha-yātrā, you went to Śrī Dhāma Navadvīpa, taking your mother with you, and there you attained the opportunity to hear hari-kathā from prominent Vaiṣṇavas such as pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja. It is indeed very rare to receive such opportunity. On top of that, to have the opportunity to hear Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛtam from the lips of pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja is also not a matter of less fortune. Despite this, your hankering for śravaṇa has not been satiated. This is astonishing. It seems that a little fruit resulting from the boon Śrī Nārada Gosvāmī prayed for towards the end of the second volume of Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛtam can be observed in you. He had implored Bhagavān, “May no one ever become satiated by hearing Your kathā.”❞ ...
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by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja
❝If there is difficulty in receiving teachings and instructions from sādhu and guruin person, scripture grants the provision of associating with sādhus in the form of sacred texts. The lives and words of exalted personalities are synonymous. Should the sādhaka and sādhikā study and discuss them, they reap the ultimate welfare for their souls.❞ ...
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by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
With what attitude should we chant the name of Śrī Bhagavān? • How will we recognize a messenger from Vaikuṇṭha and the authenticity of his message? • By what means can we gain the courage to surrender our very self?
