Bhaktivedanta Vamana Gosvami

Remembrances of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Once Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja went for pracāra in Assam, along with some of his god-brothers, to attend a huge religious assembly there. Due to the heavy and continuous downpour of rain, none of his god-brothers was feeling inclined to go to the assembly place. But Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja, walked with great difficulty to the assembly’s location, holding an umbrella over his head and lifting his clothes above his knees.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝If one perceives Kṛṣṇa’s character and deeds as political and superimposes immorality onto them, one will have to be bound for hell. The desire to destroy Śrī Bhagavān’s transcendental form turns the living entity into an impersonalist, a māyāvādī. Bhagavān’s worshipful form (śrī vigraha) is saccidānanda.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝During the month of Kārtika, if one performs pūjā (worship) to please Śrī Rādhikā, Dāmodara Śrī Hari becomes pleased, because Ūrjeśvarī Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the presiding deity of this month. The possessor of all potencies, Dāmodara Śrī Kṛṣṇa, does not accept worship without His svarūpa-śakti (intrinsic potency), otherwise known as hlādinī-śakti. Likewise, Śrī Rādhā-devī, that antaraṅga (intimate) or parā-śakti (supreme energy) rejects everything in the absence of Her prāṇanātha (the Lord of Her life). That is precisely why the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas under the guidance of Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara and Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī have accepted only the worship of rādhāliṅgita-vigraha Yugala (the Divine Couple when Kṛṣṇa’s form is embraced by Śrī Rādhā).❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝It is natural that every sādhaka is eager to know about Śrī Rādhikā, because without serving Her, attaining the service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is a distant prospect. However, the truth of who She is can only be preserved if She is revealed or described as She is. Otherwise, all we perceive are deceptions that assert truth to be false or falsehood to be truth.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Only if one has a sense of attachment for Śrī Bhagavān is there significance and fulfillment in reading and writing. Nowhere is there a better perspective than that given by Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That is why one must become thoroughly established in the conceptions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the king of devotional literature, the essence of all Vedānta, and the natural commentary on the gāyatrī-mantra.❞ ...

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.❞ ...

Vamana Maharaja is very grave and quiet, and there is another special quality that he possesses: I have seen many people, myself included, who give explanations from the scriptures and enjoy taking praise from others for it. But having known Vamana Maharaja for almost fifty years, I have never seen him do this, not even by accident. He is also very tolerant...

According to the degree of love and affection towards someone, one will experience that much separation for a person. The gopis had so much affection for Sri Krsna, and that is why they felt so much separation when He went to Mathura. We have read about the various stages of their separation in the Srimad-Bhagavatam and other scriptures...

We have heard from many Vaisnavas, such as Sripad Parivrajaka Maharaja and Sripada Madhava Maharaja, and especially Sripad Bhakti-prasada Van Maharaja spoke very nicely about the principle of separation (viraha-tattva). Separation feelings are very important in the bhajana of Gaudiya Vaisnavas. When first entering the realm of bhajana there are feelings of separation, in the middle there are such feelings, and when one attains...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Even though Cāturmāsya-vrata is not mentioned among the sixty-four limbs of bhakti described in Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Śrīman Mahāprabhu personally observed Cāturmāsya-vrata while staying in Purī, Śrī Raṅgam, and other places, thus imparting to the living entities of the world instructions on the necessity of following this vrata.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝It is not possible for the living entity to attain perfection in sādhana without weeping before Śrī Bhagavān and humbly supplicating Him. Although the restless mind is scattered here and there during the chanting of śrī nāma, one must draw it back and steady it. By abhyāsa-yoga (the yoga of practice), this becomes possible and, along with that, it is necessary to practice some vairāgya-yoga (the yoga of renunciation) or in other words, regulation of one’s diet and leisure and maintaining self-restraint.❞ ...

by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Saṅkīrtana is our eternal occupation. When many people come together to perform kīrtana, that is saṅkīrtana. Śrī Gaurasundara is the father of saṅkīrtana; saṅkīrtana is Śrī Gaurāṅga’s son. ❞ ...

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.❞ ...

Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Māhārāja

❝Are you enacting such sickness again and again just to test our composure? Once last year also you enacted such an illness. I do not know what Śrī Śrī Guru-Gaurāṅga Śrī Rādhā-Vinoda-bihārījī have written in our fortune, but I say there is no way you are allowed to leave before I do. If Śrī Guru and Gaurāṅga do not fulfil our heartfelt prayers, I will consider myself utterly bereft of good fortune.❞...