Rupa Goswami was the first Goswami

October 9, 2013 in Articles, Damaghosa Dasa by Damaghosa dasa

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710106SB.CAL                    Lectures                   … Rupa Gosvami was a minister. He was rejected by the brahmana  society, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu made him gosvami. He is the original  gosvami. Why? Because he gave up the dictation of Nawab Shah but he  followed the dictation of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Therefore he became gosvami,  prabhupada. He became prabhupada. Prabhupada means the title or the respect  which is given to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is called…  Prabhu means master and pada means maryada, or the respect or  the distinction. So bhagavad-duta, those who are strictly following  the dictation of Krsna under strict disciplinary chain of  disciplic succession, he is Krsna’s representative and he should be given  all the respect. Saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastraih. That is the  verdict of all sastras.    And those who are actually Vaisnava,  they follow this instruction….
 
 
below, some fall harvest—“Sarva Kama dugha mahi..” from the earth all  our
necessites come..(BG)
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Krishna Balaram Abhiseka Ceremony

October 8, 2013 in Articles, Navadvipa Dasa by Nityananda Rama dasa

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Hare Krishna Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

We have just celebrated the abhiseka for Krishna and Balaram on October 6, 2013. Participants from Krishna Balaram Mandir commented that the deities were so beautiful and very attractive.

Out of Their causeless mercy, Krishna and Balaram appeared at Krishna Balaram Mandir in Vancouver, Canada.

Please click the link below to see the video of the abhiseka ceremony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-_ZgA25h6o

Your Servant,

navadvipa dasa

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The Curious Story of Romaharsana Suta

October 6, 2013 in Articles, Narasimha Dasa by Nityananda Rama dasa

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By Narasimha das

[Note: I wrote a version of this article by hand (minus the parts in brackets) and gave it to Tamal Krsna Gosvami in late 1979 when we were staying at our ISKCON farm project in Oklahoma. The next day when I brought him his lunch, I noticed he had “Krsna Book” opened to Chapter 77. He said, “Let’s discuss your article.”  He got an urgent call right after lunch, and we never had that discussion. But he gave me permission to leave his “zone”, and shortly thereafter he spoke his famous Topanga Canyon confessions, wherein he frankly admitted Srila Prabhupada had never appointed any gurus.]

In Srila Prabhupada’s KRSNA BOOK, Chapter 77, we find the story of Romaharsana Suta. This man was a learned transcendentalist and direct disciple of Srila Vyasadeva. But he was not a pure devotee. Srila Prabhupada explains: “his transcendental realization was not perfect.”

Just prior to the advent of the age of Kali, many great sages and saintly persons gathered at the holy place of Naimisaranya to perform a great sacrifice via the recitation of the pastimes of the Supreme Lord and His pure devotees. Such narrations are found in the Puranas, such as Srimad-Bhagavatam and Mahabharata, and in other authorized scriptures. In Vedic culture, advanced devotees well-versed in these scriptures would often lead long discourses and discussions of these important topics.  Unlike the modern-day bhagavat-saptas performed by professional speakers to impress laymen for sake of their own financial gain, these meetings were attended almost exclusively by ascetics and yogis, or serious transcendentalists eager to develop full Krishna consciousness.

Romharsana Suta had studied all the Vedas and Puranas under the personal guidance of Srila Vyasadeva, the literary incarnation of God.  Therefore he had been elected to sit on the vyasasana at the great assembly of transcendentalists, even though he had not been born in a lineage of pure brahmins. We find many examples mentioned in Srila Prabhupada books wherein a person not born in a family of brahmins had achieved the position of a brahmin or acarya by virtue of training, staunch sadhana and realization in Krishna consciousness. Srila Haridas Thakura, for instance, who was born in a family of Mohammedans, was recognized as the best devotee and given the title of nama-acarya by Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself.  Srila Haridas Thakura, however, was the emblem of humility and never considered himself a great devotee or teacher of Vaisnavas.

Romaharsana Suta was not a devotee on the level of Haridas Thakura. In spite of his learning and exalted status, he had failed to perfectly realize his constitutional position as a tiny part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  Rather he imagined himself to be the greatest sadhu. He dared to sit on the vyasasana–even in the presence of many learned devotees who hailed from dynasties of pure and exalted brahmins or brahma-rishis.  Moreover, when everyone else stood up and offered obeisance to welcome Lord Balarama, Romaharsana Suta remained seated. Srila Prabhupada mentions that he should have followed the example of all the other learned sages present by standing to receive Lord Balarama.

[Note: Srila Prabhupada’s “Nectar of Devotion” states that everyone should stand up to greet the Deities. No one should remain seated.]

Srila Prabhupada writes: “When Lord Balarama saw that Romahasana Suta did not understand the highest principle of religiousness in spite of having studied all the Vedas, He certainly could not support his position. Romaharsana had been given the chance to become a perfect brahmana, but because of his ill behavior in his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his low birth was immediately remembered… “

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Some beautiful words from Srila Prabhupada

October 6, 2013 in Articles, Damaghosa Dasa by Damaghosa dasa

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Hare Krsna to all-pranams

All glories to Srila Prabhupada
What follows is some excerpts from a vyasa puja offering by A C  Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to his  Guru and Godbrothers many years  before he came to the western countries.
  
SSR  2                  Choosing a Spiritual  Master         He appears before us  to reveal the light of the Vedas and to bestow upon us the blessings of  full-fledged freedom, after which we should hanker at every step of our  life’s journey.
   Gentlemen, our knowledge is so poor, our senses are so  imperfect, and our sources are so limited that it is not possible for  us to have even the slightest knowledge of the absolute region  without surrendering ourselves at the lotus feet of Sri Vyasadeva or his  bona fide representative. Every moment we are being deceived by  the knowledge of our direct perception. It is all the creation  or concoction of the mind, which is always deceiving, changing,  and flickering. We cannot know anything of the transcendental region  by our limited, perverted method of observation and experimentBut all of us can lend our eager ears for the aural reception of  the transcendental sound transmitted from that region to this through  the unadulterated medium of Sri Gurudeva or Sri Vyasadeva.
…. All of us should hear him patiently. If we listen to the  transcendental sound without unnecessary opposition, he will surely have mercy  upon us. The Acarya’s Message is to take us back to our original home,  back to God.
Let me repeat, therefore, that we should hear him patiently, follow him in  the measure of our conviction, and bow down at his lotus feet for  releasing us from our present causeless unwillingness for serving the  Absolute and all souls.
   Personally, I have no hope for any direct service for the  coming crores of births of the sojourn of my life, but I am confident  that some day or other I shall be delivered from this mire of delusion  in which I am at present so deeply sunk. Therefore let me with all  my earnestness pray at the lotus feet of my divine master to allow me  to suffer the lot for which I am destined due to my past misdoings, but to let me have this power of recollection: that I am nothing but  a tiny servant of the Almighty Absolute Godhead, realized through  the unflinching mercy of my divine master. Let me therefore bow down  at his lotus feet with all the humility at my command.
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