Radhika Carana-Renu by Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura

'The Dust of the Lotus Feet of Sri Radhika" (Sri Prema-bhakti-candrika 9)

radhika carana-renu, bhusana kariya tanu,
anayase pabe giridhari
radhika-caranasraya ye kare se mahasaya,
tan 're mui yaon balihari

One who adorns his body with the dust of the lotus feet of Srimati Radhika will easily get Lord Giridari. By taking the lotus feet of Srimati Radhika as his asraya or sole refuge, he becomes an exalted devotee - to him I say, "Excellent! Bravo!"

Jaya jaya 'radha' nama, vrndavana yan'ra dhama,
krsna-sukha-vilasera nidhi
hena radha-guna-gana,
na sunila mora kana,vanchita karila more vidhi

All glories to Sri Radha whose divine abode is Vrndavana! She is the wealth of Krsna's blissful pastimes. If my ears never hear such glories as Radha's, then I have been cheated by the hands of fate.

tan'ra bhakta-sange sada, rasa-lila prema-katha,
yena kare se paya ghanasya
maihate vimukha yei, ta'ra kabhu siddhi nai,
nahi yena suni ta'ra nama

One who is always in the association of devotees who hear about and discuss prema-katha, topics on divine love, such as the rasa-lila pastimes in Vrndavana, he will get the lotus feet of that Krsna whose bodily hue is like a dark-blue monsoon cloud. He who is adverse to hearing and discussing these topics, will never achieve the goal of life, nor do I ever want to hear his name.

krsna-nama-gane bhai, radhika-carana pai,
radha-nama-gane krsna-candra
samksepe kahinu katha, ghucao manera vyatha,
duhkhamaya anya katha-dvandva

O brothers! By chanting Krsna's names, one can get Radhika's lotus feet; and by chanting Radha's names one can get the moonlike Lord Krsna. In a few brief words I have told what gives relief to this aching heart - other talks are simply full of misery with conflicting words and thoughts.

Wholehearted Allegiance

Diseased and conditioned, the living entity (Soul \ Atma ) transmigrates throughout the universe. Sometimes he is situated in the upper planetary system and sometimes in the lower system. In this way he leads his diseased life. His disease can be cured only when he meets and follows the expert physician, the bona fide spiritual master. When the conditioned soul faithfully follows the instructions of a bona fide spiritual master, his material disease is cured, he is promoted to the liberated stage, and he again attains to the devotional service of Krishna and goes back home, back to Krishna.

A conditioned living entity should become aware of his real position and should pray to the Lord, "How much longer will I be under the rule of all these bodily functions such as lust and anger?" As masters of the conditioned soul, lust and anger are never merciful. Indeed the conditioned soul will never cease rendering service to such bad masters. However, when he comes to his real consciousness, or Krishna consciousness, he abandons these bad masters and approaches Krishna with a frank and open heart to achieve His shelter. At such a time he prays to Krishna to be engaged in His transcendental loving service. - The Beauty of Krishna - Chapter 10 by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami

"All of you should remain in close co-operation with the objective to propitiate the Supreme Lord with wholehearted allegiance to the grace incarnate form, Gurudeva, who is the Absolute Counterpart of the Supreme Lord. All of you should somehow maintain your livelihood in this most perishable non-eternal world, with the only objective of satisfying the Supreme Lord. Don't give up worship of God inspite of hundreds of troubles, hundreds of humiliations and hundreds of abuses. Don't be discouraged by seeing that most of the conditioned souls in this world are not accepting the service of Sri Krishna sincerely, without deceitfulness. Never give up your own worship, and never give up your only wealth, the 'be-all and end-all' of your life, which is the hearing and chanting of the glories of Sri Krishna. Always do Hari kirtan with the qualities of being humbler than blade of grass and more forbearing than tree." -Sriman Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati said this to his Disciples, just prior to entering Nitya Lila.

In conclusion we should take good care of our spiritual selves and see to it that we follow the process of devotional service as outlined by Sriman Mahaprabhu and his confidential associates. Life is short lets not waste time. You and I will be tested of this there is no doubt so lets not blame anyone for our lack of sincerity. We can only blame ourselves. The cheaters will be cheated and those who truly desire the eternal association of Sri Krishna and his Associates will have their wish granted. Ajd

Maya's Illusion

Maya's illusion is like the foam which mixes again with the sea.

No one is mother, father, or relative;

Like the sea foam, they remain a short while only.

And, as the sea foam merges into the sea,

this precious body of five elements disappears.

Who can say how many ephemeral forms the embodied soul has taken.

Poem by Abhaya Charan de

Gayatri entered the ear-holes of Brahma ji

The sound of Krsna's flute is the transcendental blissful sound; hence the archetype of all Veda, is present in it. The Gayatri is Vedic rhythm. It contains a brief meditation and prayer. Kama-gayatri is the highest of all the Gayatris, because the meditation and prayer contained in it are full of the perfect transcendental sportive activities which are not to be found in any other Gayatri.

The Gayatri that is attained as the sequel of the eighteen-lettered mantra is kama-gayatri which runs thus: klim kama-devaya vidmahe puspa-banaya dhimahi tan no 'nangah pracodayat. In this Gayatri, the realization of the transcendental pastimes of Sri Gopijana-vallabha after perfect meditation and the prayer for the attainment of the transcendental god of love are indicated.

In the spiritual world there is no better mode of endeavor for securing the super excellent rasa-bedewed love. As soon as that Gayatri entered into the ear-holes of Brahma, he became the twice-born and began to chant the Gayatri. Whoever has received the same Gayatri in reality. has attained his spiritual rebirth.

The status of a twice-born that is obtained in accordance with one's worldly nature and lineage, by the fettered souls in this mundane world, is far inferior to that of the twice-born who obtains admission into the transcendental world; because the initiation or acquisition of transcendental birth as a result of spiritual initiation is the highest of glories in as much as the jiva is thereby enabled to attain to the transcendental realm.

Lord Krishna delivers the Chanter

Vaishnava Das then spoke; The Scriptures declare:

"O best of the Bhrgus, the holy name of Lord Krishna delivers the chanter."
These words mean that the Yavanas and everyone else can attain the supreme spiritual goal of life by chanting the holy name of Lord Krishna. In this way the Hindus and Yavanas may become equals.A human being who does not perform eternal pious deeds like chanting Lord Krishna's name is declared by the scriptures to be "dvi-pada-pasu" (an animal pretending to be a human being). This is because such a person has no faith in the holy name of Lord Krishna.

Although such a person may have taken birth as a human being, he is not really human. In truth he is an animal.

The Mahabharata explains:
"O king, a person whose past pious deeds are small cannot have faith in Lord Govinda, the remnants of food offered to Him, His holy name, or His devotees."

Eternal pious deeds, which purify the soul, are called "great pious deeds". Temporary pious deeds, which are performed without spiritual faith, are called "small pious deeds." The remnants of food offered to Lord Krishna, Lord Krishna, Lord Krishna's holy name, and the pure Vaishnava - these four are spiritual. They reveal the spiritual truth.


Cudamani said (with a smile): What kind of talk is this?
This is just the Vaishnavas' fanatic dogma. How can rice, dal, and curry be spiritual? There is nothing that you will not claim.

Vaishnava dasa: Do what you like, but please do not criticise the Vaishnavas. That is my request. In a debate, only the various arguments should be considered. Why do you need to verbally attack the Vaishnavas? The remnants of foods offered to the Lord are beyond the touch of the material world. One should not eat foods that are not thus offered to the Lord, for eating the remnants of food offered to the Lord illumines the way to the spiritual world and drives away all that is foolish and material.

Therefore Sri Isopanisad (Mantra 1) explains:

"Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong."

Whatever exists in the material universe has a relationship with the potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A person who sees that everything has a relationship with the Lord's potency will not attempt to enjoy the things of this external material world.


If a spiritually conscious soul accepts only what he must to maintain his material body in this world, and if he understands that everything is the Supreme Personality of Godhead's mercy, then he will not fall down. That is the way a person eager to attain the spiritual world will act.

Therefore the remnants of food offered to Lord Krishna are called 'maha-prasada' (great mercy). Still, you are not attracted to these spiritual things - that is your misfortune.

( Jaiva Dharma Chapter Two )

Unwilling to show any duplicity

"Those who are unwilling to show any duplicity, wish to be frank and straightforward, or in other words to exercise unambiguously the function of the soul, such really sincere persons are called sectarian and orthodox by those who practice duplicity. We will cultivate the society only of those who are straightforward. We will not keep company with any person who is not so. We must by all means avoid bad company. We are advised to keep at a distance of a hundred cubits from animals of the horned species. We should observe the same caution in regard to all insincere persons."

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

Narada Muni visits Krsna

Narada Muni visits Krsna in Dvaraka

( from the Caitanya Mangala)

Narada was disturbed within his heart and Krsna asked as to what was the cause of such compassion and sadness. Narada’s body trembled with Love of God and his eyes were reddish and filled with tears. He could not speak at all due to his emotional state. But Sri Krsna was insistent to know why he was disturbed and upset.
Narada answered: “Dear kind one, here is what I am feeling.You are the most merciful Lord. You are the over soul in all organisms. Your holy names and characteristics are everything, and is the nectar that sustains my life. Your transcendental activities bring great fortune to those who hear them and out of compassion I sing your glories every where I go. But, if I cannot hear how your names are sung and if I see the conditioned souls, full of false of pride, engrossed into materialistic activities without devotional love for you, that gives me a lot of pain. I do not see a possibility for release for these people. Therefore my spirit is always disturbed if I think about it. I now declare to you I will carry grief in my heart. In your presence by the mercy of your lotus feet, how will I get some relief?”

Krsna turned toward Narada Muni and with the following words said: “Hear this Narada; I have heard a wonderful narration from Rukmini. From it my promise will satisfy you. I will manifest myself in the age Kali Yuga in a form of overwhelming humility. I will appear as a devotee of myself, in order to experience the love of my pure devotees. Experiencing that love I will distribute it to other pure devotees, Krsna continued to explain where he would appear and what his personal bodily features would look like etc. As he was explaining this feeling {the devotional bliss of his pure devotees} his Krsna form gradually became his golden Gauranga Mahaprabhu form!

Narada Muni became nearly unconscious in devotional ecstasy, due to the view of this most beautiful form of Sri Krsna’s which would appear in the coming age. This was the first time that Sri Krsna revealed his transcendental shape as Sri Gauranga, the beautifully golden form, decorated with pure devotional love of God .

Murari Gupta continued: the marvelously beautiful shape exploded Narada Muni’s heart with love and tears that resulted in thousands of rivers from the eyes. Gauranga’s bright golden skin color was more radiant than millions of suns. The hue of millions of moons and millions of demigods fade and appear shameful before Gauranga’s inconceivably pretty face. Completely dazzled by Gauranga’s bright luster his eyes rolled back in ecstasy and trembling, seeing his devotee’s condition, Krsna took his bright radiant emittance back and called with a loud voice toward Narada muni.

Returning to external consciousness, Narada Muni again saw Sri Krsna as he did earlier on, but he was very eager to see again the marvelous shape of the golden appearance of Sri Gauranga.Singing the glories of Gauranga Mahaprabhu filled the air in all directions. It was such a marvelous occurrence.
Oh Devotees, what incomparable beauty I saw in shape of Sri Gauranga, whose large-emotional eyes appear reddish, similar to the rising of the sun. Oh, such an expression of nectar have I seen. I saw the sweetest smile on Gauranga’s face to his beautiful lotus feet. He is more kind than any other appearance (avatar). Never have I seen such a reservoir of love. My eyes and my life are of real value and attained the perfection by seeing the embodiment of the ocean of the mercy. My heart can never forget it. My eyes require seeing Gauranga, always and always.

End

Like gold from the Jambunada river

akaitava krishna prema jena jambunada hem

sei prem nriloke na hoy

jadi hoy tar jog nahi hoy tobe viyog

viyog hoile keho na jiyay

Y

Genuine love for Krishna is like gold

from the Jambunada River;

such love does not exist in the world of men.

For should it exist,

there would never be any separation of lovers,

For if separated, they could not remain alive.