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naradhito dvija-suto na taveha krsnah

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur

As soon as there is “Why?”, there is no surrender Devotee: Why is any one activity of Krishna consciousness better than another one? Why is any one way of serving Krishna better than another? For example, with chanting of the sixteen rounds, suppose you've gone 23 hours of the day serving Krishna in one way or another, and the last hour there is opportunity to finish your rounds and also opportunity to make a life member. So instead of chanting your sixteen rounds… Prabhupada: But you cannot create your concoction! You have to abide by the orders of Krishna. Devotee: Then why… Prabhupada: There is no question of why. It is the order of Krishna'srepresentative. You have to abide by that. You cannot say, "Why?" Then you are not fully surrendered, as soon as you say, "Why?" means there is no [surrender] "Why?" It is ordered; it has to be done. That's all. As soon as there is "Why?", there is no surrender. The basic principle is misguided. We have to follow. Just like we have got tilaka. If you say, "Why this tilaka?" There is no question of "Why?" Mahajano yena gatah sa pantha. We have been instructed by the acharyas; we have to follow that. That is surrender. You cannot say, "Why?" Is that clear? As soon as there is "Why?", there is no surrender. (Room Conversation – Feb 17, 1971 – Gorakhpur) Source: http://www.iskcontimes.com/as-soon-as-there-is-why-there-is-no-surrender/

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarawati Thakur Prabhupada said: "Only if we are utterly disgusted with our own levels of achievements, do we become open to humbly analyze our own faults and thus make spiritual progress."  Posted by Brahma Theodoridis http://vinacc.blogspot.co.za/2017/06/srila-bhaktisiddhanta-sarawati-thakur.html

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu art that make my eyes tear and heart jump.

Imaginary Perfection is Self-deception by Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja Guru Maharaja (Srila Saraswati Thakur) clearly said that when we are in a lower position, smarana is injurious. Rather, we should take to kirtana. Kirtana prabhave, smarana haibe, se kale bhajana nirjjana sambhava. Sahajiyas (members of the imitationist school) are fonder of smarana than kirtana. They are ‘followers’ of smarana. They lead a secluded life, and mentally they attempt to identify themselves with a particular sakhi of their own age. They pretend to perform her duties, to occupy her place of service in a particular place of Vrndavana, in a particular lila, under the guidance of a particular sakhi, and so on. They are required to meditate on all these things by their so-called guru. That is the process amongst the Sahajiya school, but we do not accept that. We consider it all false and imaginary. They are not fit for the plane. They do not have real sambandha-jnana, knowledge of Reality. They only practice the habitual repetition of a particular mental speculation, but anartha-nivrtti (removal of contamination) or any other process based on it cannot be effected thereby. Their imagined achievement is sheer concoction. They are not aware of the facts — the ontological gradation from Viraja to Brahmaloka, Vaikuntha and Goloka. They are pukura-curiwale: pond thieves–imagining their residence at Radha Kunda. To think one can steal a pond is self deception. We consider that kind of ‘smarana‘ to be self-deception. The Death Blow to the Sahajiyas The Sahajiyas propagate that without directly receiving siddha-pranali (revelation of one’s internal identity as a gopi) spiritual perfection is incomplete. Let them do so. Our Guru Maharaja wrote several poems, one of which is Prakrta-rasa Sata-dusani, ‘A Hundred Defects in the Sahajiya Conception.’ The defects are innumerable, but our Guru Maharaja put forward a hundred of the defects in their process of ‘advancement.’ Mainly they take spiritual advancement very cheaply; they are not prepared to pay the real price. But the death blow to them is this: upajiya bade lata ‘brahmanda’ bhedi’ yaya ‘viraja,’ brahmaloka, ‘ bhedi’ ‘paravyoma’ paya tabe yaya tad upari ‘goloka-vrndavana’ ‘krsna-carana’-kalpa-vrkse kare arohana“As one waters the devotional creeper, the seed sprouts, and it gradually grows until it penetrates the walls of this material universe and goes beyond the Viraja River, which divides the spiritual world and the material world. It attains brahma-loka, and then reaches the paravyoma, the spiritual sky, and then reaches the foremost spiritual planet Goloka Vrndavana. Rooted in the heart and watered by sravana-kirtana, the bhakti creeper grows until it attains the shelter of the desire tree of the lotus feet of Krsna in the topmost region of the spiritual sky.” (C.c. Madhya-lila 19.153-4) One must first cross the different gross and subtle layers of the brahmanda (mundane universe); then Viraja, the extremity of the jurisdiction of Maya, or misconception; then the Brahman conception, the halo of the real or transcendental world; then, Vaikuntha, which is Paravyoma, a sphere of consciousness. The jiva comes from tatasthaloka, the marginal position or the abscissa, and must go through higher planes where even the soil is more valuable than the infinitesimal spirit soul. Vaikunthera prthivyadi sakala cinmaya. What is Vaikuntha? There the soil, earth, water, everything is of purer consciousness than the person who is going to enter there. Entering the Land of Gurus It is a land of gurus. There, they are all guru, they are all of superior value by nature; yet, we have to pass over them. As an example, consider that it may be necessary for our service to momentarily place a foot on the throne of the Lord (perhaps to place His crown on His head, etc.). But afterwards we come back down, offer our obeisances, and then come out from the Deity room. In the same manner we must enter and remain in a soil that is made of a stuff more valuable than our own selves. When serving the emperor, a slave may come near his bed, where even his near and dear cannot go, or hesitate to go. The slave can approach, but only for service. So it is only for the divine service, for the necessity of the Highest, that we can pass through that soil. It is not an easy thing; it is inconceivable. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Vaikunthera prthivy-adi sakala cinmaya. We must understand the conception properly. The jiva has emerged from the tatastha-sakti or marginal potency. He is a part of the marginal potency, and he must enter the higher plane. This gross world is of gross potency, aparasakti; the jiva, although marginal, is of a potency superior to this gross world, or para-sakti. Above both is the Internal Potency, or antaranga-sakti. We have to enter the plane of antaranga-sakti. This marginal potency is to enter the plane of antarangasakti – Paravyoma, and the highest quarter, Vrndavana, Goloka. It is not a trivial matter. Cheap Imitators and Pseudo Devotees Srila Gaura Kisora Babaji Maharaja practiced smarana in a hut near the Ganges. Another Babaji constructed a kutira nearby, a small hut, and went on imitating Gaura Kisora Babaji, performing madhukari (subsisting on alms), sitting and meditating, and wearing similar cloth. Babaji remarked, “If a lady enters into a maternity ward, she cannot produce a child only by imitating the sounds and symptoms of labor. “Many things are necessary before that!” Only by imitating the paramahamsa babaji, bhajana cannot be practiced. One must have a connection with suddha-sattva, the real plane, and then all the higher symptoms may appear. Otherwise, only speculative antics will manifest. na u hiya vrksopari, ana ani phala dhari’ dus a-phala karile arjana Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura asks in Kalyana-kalpataru, Upadesa 18: “If one wants fruits without taking the trouble to climb the tree, what sort of fruits can one expect?” The fruits will be ruined, or rotten. Without proper progression, it is all imagination, a madman’s feat. One must gradually reach the plane of truth,suddha-sattva. There are so many planes to cross: Bhur, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janar, Tapar, Satya-loka, Viraja, Brahmaloka. Mahaprabhu says that the creeper of bhakti grows and rises up to Goloka, and our devotion must cross all these planes (C.c. Madhya-lila 19.153-4). But the pseudo-devotees do not care to know what is Paravyoma, what is Brahmaloka, what is Viraja, what is the brahmanda. Without caring to know about these things, they approach any guru, receive some mantra, and go on meditating. But if one meditates upon Radha-Govinda-lila in such an ignorant state, instead of entering Radha-Govinda-lila one will become entangled with the ladies and gentlemen of this world. One will become entangled in the domain of lust and will have to go to hell instead of going up to Goloka. Source: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/vaisnava-news/imaginary-perfection-is-self-deception/

To Err Is Human By Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Goswami, originally published in 1934, in The Harmonist. To err is human. To err is inevitable for all, being not perfect. Still, no one wants to remain imperfect. There is an element within all that is animate that tends towards perfection. If it were not so, we would feel no want at all. Our tendency towards perfection is certainly very weak and limited; otherwise we could attain the goal at once. Our limited capacity and tendency for perfection makes room for the guide or guru. The imperfect is not so if it is not in need of help, and that also from beyond itself. The perfect is not perfect if he cannot assert himself or help others, and that too, of his own accord. So the guidance to perfection or Absolute truth is necessarily a function of the Absolute himself, and the divine agent through whom this function manifests is sri guru or the divine guide. For a seeker of the Absolute truth, submission to the guru is unavoidable. A class of thinkers believes, however, that when scientific research is possible, why cannot higher spiritual knowledge also be evolved from within? Such people are ignorant of the most essential nature of higher knowledge, that he alone is the Absolute subject and all else including ourselves constitutionally stand only as an object to his omniscient vision. It is impossible for the eye to see the mind; it can have some connection with the mind only when the latter cares to mind it. In a similar way, our connection with higher knowledge depends mainly on his sweet will. We must solely depend on his agent, or the spiritual master, through whom he likes to distribute himself. Our human society with its finest culture forms but an infinitesimal part of the dynamic Absolute. How, except by the direct and positive method of revelation, dare we hope to comprehend or evolve any conception of the supernatural knowledge of the unconditioned infinite? All intellectual giants prove themselves but pygmies before the absolute, omniscient omnipotence who reserves the right to give himself away through his own agents alone. To our best knowledge and sincerity, however, we should see not to submit to a false agent. Here of course, we can’t help ourselves very much; because in our present state we are mainly guided by our previous samskara, or acquired nature. “Birds of the same feather flock together.” Yet, although we are generally overpowered by habit, there is still the possibility of free choice to a certain extent, especially in the human species, otherwise correction becomes impossible, and punishment mere vengeance. Reality can assert itself. Light does not require darkness for its positive proof. The sun by itself can establish its supremacy over all other lights. Before an open and unbiased eye, the sat guru, the fully realized preceptor, shines above all professors of phenomenon. Sri gurudeva manifests himself mainly in a twofold way—as the director from within and the preceptor from without. Both functions of the absolute help an individual soul, a disciple, to reach the absolute goal. In our fallen state we cannot catch the proper direction of the inner guide, so the merciful manifestation of the preceptor without is our sole help and hope. But at the same time it is only by the grace of the guru within that we can recognize the real preceptor without and submit to his holy feet. A bona fide disciple must always remain fully awake to the fact that his highest spiritual fortune is but a gracious grant from the Absolute Lord, and not a matter of right to be demanded or fought out. Constitutionally, we are equipped only to be proper recipients of God’s favor. In this connection it should be clearly understood that an individual soul can never be substantially the same as the Absolute person. Not even in his liberated or fully realized condition can an individual soul be one with Godhead. The misconception of oneness has been introduced from the slothful nondiscrimination of the Absolute Personality from the luminous orb around his eternal, spiritual, and blissful home. In fact, an individual soul constitutes only a part of a particular power of intermediate value of the Supreme Lord, and as such he is capable of being converted from both sides. He differs from the Absolute entity both in quantity and quality; and is merely a dependent entity on the Absolute. In other words, the Absolute Lord Krishna is the master, and an individual jiva soul is his constitutional subordinate or servant. Such a relationship is constant and really wholesome for the jiva. The apprehension of slavery does not arise because of his free choice and immense positive gain. The freedom and individuality of the jiva are not only unharmed by surrender to the Absolute good, but they really thrive in him alone. Individual freedom and interest are the part and parcel of those who are of the Absolute, and so they are quite at home there, as a fish is at home in water or an animal in a healthy atmosphere. But the freedom as well as all other qualities of the Supreme Personality are unlimited and transcendental, and so only by their partial functions they harmonize all relative entities. Sri guru is not exclusively the same as the Supreme Lord himself, but he fully represents the essence of the whole normal potency and embodies the most comprehensive and excellent service and favor of the Lord. As he is the fittest servitor of the Lord, he is empowered by the Lord to reinstate all misguided souls to their best interest. So, guru is the divine messenger of immortal hope and joy in this mortal and miserable world. His advent is the most auspicious and happy event to the suffering animation, and can be compared to the rising of the morning star that can guide the traveler lost in the desert. A gentle touch of sri guru‘s merciful hand can wipe off the incessant tears from all weeping eyes. A patriot or philanthropist makes the problem only worse in his frantic and futile attempt to alleviate the deep-rooted pain of a suffering soul, as an ignorant doctor does in eagerly handling an unfortunate patient. Oh the day when this poor soul realizes the causeless grace of sri gurudeva. Source: http://harmonist.us/2016/05/to-err-is-human/