Bhaktivedanta Vamana Gosvami

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.❞...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Many preaching centres of the Gauḍīya Maṭha have been established today in the East and West, yet I consider all of them to be a single indivisible unit. I know those who have been favoured by jagad-guru Śrīla Sarasvatī Prabhupāda and those who are his disciples and grand-disciples to be my own people, and I convey my obeisance to them, knowing them to be Gauḍīyas. I know every Vaiṣṇava who is bathed in the current of Śrī Gaura-vāṇī-vinoda (the delight of Śrī Gaura’s message) to be my supreme well-wishing friend and most intimate relative, but there is no way I can imagine a separate institution.❞ ...

Remembrance of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝I would be quietly and gently shaken awake, and I’d understand that Narahari Prabhu had come. Immediately rising from bed, I’d put on a gāmchā and follow behind him to the many toilets, one toilet after another. Narahari Prabhu would hold the torch and I would take a broom and a bucket of water and clean each toilet.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝It is through Śrī Rūpa in particular that Śrī Gaurasundara has, in a very special manner, revealed the scriptures of bhakti-rasa. Śrī Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas take special pride in introducing themselves as śrī rūpanuga, the followers of Śrī Rūpa.❞ ...

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.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝The many philosophical conclusions Śrīman Mahāprabhu has revealed and preached personally and through Svarūpa, the Six Gosvāmīs, and the Gauḍīya guru-varga in regard to determining the object of worship (upāsya-tattva) are not subjects that people inimical to bhakti can grasp. He has given the Gauḍīyas the instruction to give up unfavorable association in all respects.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Tomorrow we will return to Vasugaon from Tangla. We are being forced to leave one person behind here forever. Now I am without an attendant sevaka. If I have served Śrī Hari, guru, and Vaiṣṇavas with a pure and simple heart, then it may be that I will not have to suffer this sorrow of separation from this sevaka.❞ ...

We have heard from Vedic scriptures and Guru that when a high-class Vaisnava is speaking hari-katha, we should think, "It is better not to perform parikrama of Govardhana, or Navadvipa, or anywhere else. Better that I hear hari-katha." Sri Giriraja Govardhana will give us His mercy only after the Vaisnavas have given us their mercy. Govardhana will not speak to us or instruct us, and therefore our hearts will not be so rapidly purified...

Javala was a widow. She had one young son named Satyakama. One day, Satyakama approached her and said, "Mother, I want to adopt a vow of sacred celibacy and take up residence in the school of my guru. But to do so, I must know my family lineage."

I am willing to be humiliated, reprimanded and heavily beaten by maya hundreds of times, but I cannot accept or tolerate the affectionate, transcendental discipline of Sri Gurudeva. Consequently, I forever relinquish devotional service to Krsna and thus I commit spiritual suicide...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Maintain powerful enthusiasm and forbearance within your heart. If you envision the smiling faces of śrī gurudeva and the Vaiṣṇavas and remember their instructions and teachings, you will find peace of mind at all times, in all circumstances.❞ ...

Memories of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

Once, the day before pūjyapāda Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja was to arrive in Kolkata from his first preaching tour abroad, Guru Mahārāja said to everyone, “Go and decorate the temple very nicely. Also nicely decorate the room that Śrīla Mahārāja will be staying in.” In the evening Guru Mahārāja went to the temple for darśana and saw that it had not been decorated. “If none of you have the time to do it, I will personally collect the flowers.” Hearing him say this, the brahmacārīs immediately went to the market and brought many kinds of flowers and other decorations. They nicely decorated Ṭhākurajī’s temple and then went to Guru Mahārāja’s room to decorate it. Guru Mahārāja said, “First ṭhākura-sevā, after that, vaiṣṇava-sevā, and after that, my sevā. Even though there is no need to decorate my room, if Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja sees it not decorated [but that his own room is decorated], it will make him feel uneasy. Our only aim is the pleasure and satisfaction of guru and Vaiṣṇavas, so decorate my room as well.”...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝You must put all manner of worldly tasks aside and chant one lakh daily, perform pūjā and arcana of the deity, study various sacred texts, and go to the maṭha to take advantage of hearing śrī hari-kathā. This is the special purpose of Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsāra, Bhagavān’s saṁsāra. Many believe that one lakh (lakṣa) of nāma means setting one’s lakṣya (focus) and chanting. But that is a one-sided notion. Chanting a fixed amount of śrī nāma means chanting with a steady heart, crying and weeping anxiously. One must complete one’s fixed number of rounds in that manner [with absorption].❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Know that if you can gain rapt absorption in śrī nāma, that is total perfection. “Niḥśvāse na hi viśvāsaḥ – there is no certainty in breath.” Time carries on. Using this time properly is imperative.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝ In the month of niyama-sevā, one must, in a regulative manner, perform various limbs of bhakti, knowing “sevā se niyama – service is that regulation.” Every day, it is absolutely obligatory to perform worship (pūjārcana), behold ārati, attend class and kīrtana, study various sacred books, recite Dāmodarāṣṭakam and various stavas and stotras.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝But then, for a servant, there is no such thing as a break from service. In the field of service, there is neither concession nor commission; service is the only fruit of service. Even supreme, liberated personalities continue to worship Śrī Bhagavān and are preoccupied with service. Hence, under no circumstance can the sevaka or sevikā take a holiday or break from service.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Only those who are bathed in the nectarean ocean of bhakti-rasa stand on the shores of this ocean of material existence as witnesses under the guidance of Śrī Rūpa and comprehend the real significance of the grand Ratha-yātrā festival of Mahāprabhu, who is Śrī Jagad-bandhu, the well-wisher of the whole world. What this festival really signifies is the sampradāya under the guidance of Śrī Rādhā drawing the son of the King of Vraja with the ropes of love from the realm of majestic aiśvarya pastimes, Śrī Kṣetra Nīlācala, to the land of sweet mādhurya pastimes, Sundarācala Vṛndāvana.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝I lived with pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja for almost sixty years and had the opportunity to closely observe and understand him. He possessed all the qualities that are inherent in a Vaiṣṇava. By nature, he was simple, grave, humble, tolerant, overflowing with guru-niṣṭhā and inclined to serve the Vaiṣṇavas.❞ ...

Remembrances of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Once, when I (Rasika-rañjana dāsādhikārī) was in Navadvīpa, I went to offer praṇāmas to pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja in his bhajana-kuṭīra. As we discussed various topics, pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja said, “Once, in a conversation with Vāmana Mahārāja, I said to him, ‘Mahārāja when I will grow old, who will take care of me and make efforts to help me? I am getting worried about this even now.’ Vāmana Mahārāja replied, ‘You should not worry about this. If nobody will be there, I will personally take care of you and will personally clean your urine and stool. In this regard you need have no worry or anxiety.’ The way Vāmana Mahārāja said this to me actually made me free from any anxiety or worry. And he did not speak mere words. He has actually been very conscientious about this.” While speaking this incident, tears began to roll down from the eyes of pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja.❞ ...

Remembrances of  Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Śrīla Guru Mahārāja – Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja – said, “The festival of Dīpāvalī begins from Kṛṣṇa Trayodaśī (the thirteenth day of the waning moon) of Kārtika month and lasts for four days – Trayodaśī, Caturdaśī, Amāvasyā and Pratipada [Annakuṭa Day]. On the day of Trayodaśī, there is Yama-dīpa-dāna [Yama–one of the mahājanas]. Outside the gate, one should place fourteen (7+7) dīpas (lamps) for the son and daughter of Sūrya (Sun), Yama and Yamunā.❞ ...