Date: 10/17/19

Dear Sriman Paramananda dasa,

Please accept my humble dandavat pranamas in remembrance of our Divine Masters.

I received both your recent emails with 62 new transcripts & quoted slokas.

I forwarded all to Sriman Gokulananda to post on our website.

Srila Sridhara Maharaja produced an amazing body of work in both quality and quantity.

Srila Bhakti Vinoda Thakura mentioned the theory that the Bhagavatam was the work of several “Vyasadevas” who each added to the text in succession rather than just one original Vyasa of 5,000 yrs. ago producing the entire work.

Accepting that theory, Srila Sridhara Maharaja would have to be included as another of those Vyasas.

ŚB 1.1.2

dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt

Synonyms

dharmaḥ — religiosity; projjhita — completely rejected; kaitavaḥ — covered by fruitive intention; atra — herein; paramaḥ — the highest; nirmatsarāṇām — of the one-hundred-percent pure in heart; satām — devotees; vedyam — understandable; vāstavam — factual; atra — herein; vastu — substance; śivadam — well-being; tāpa-traya — threefold miseries; unmūlanam — causing uprooting of; śrīmat — beautiful; bhāgavate — the Bhāgavata Purāṇa; mahā-muni — the great sage (Vyāsadeva); kṛte— having compiled; kim — what is; vā — the need; paraiḥ — others; īśvaraḥ — the Supreme Lord; sadyaḥ — at once; hṛdi — within the heart; avarudhyate — becomes compact; atra — herein; kṛtibhiḥ — by the pious men; śuśrūṣubhiḥ — by culture; tat-kṣaṇāt — without delay.… Read More...

Date: 10/22/19

Dear Sriman Damodara dasa,

Please accept my blessings and well wishes in remembrance of my Divine Masters.

After some time, I listened to your lectures and distributed them. Then my friends attacked me, threatened hell, etc.

We must follow the Absolute Truth wherever He leads us. He wants and demands that His devotees will not compromise their surrender to Him in any way. This often means, as Srila Sridhara Maharaja stated it, “By His will, friends may turn into foes, and foes may turn into friends.”:

Friends may be converted into foes, and foes may be converted into friends. But I must stick to my ideal. By His will, friends may turn into foes, and foes may turn into friends. But in my progress, some elimination and some new acceptance, it must be. If there is progress real, then some sort of elimination and some sort of newcomers. It must be. It can’t be avoided, if I’m progressing. If I’m of a progressive nature then there must be elimination and must be new beginning, new friends. It can’t be stopped, in our realization.

When we begin our education in the school, or class, so many, all may not pass, they fall back.… Read More...

My dandavats. (Sriman Gokulananda Prabhu, Srimati Lilavati Devi, Uddharan das)

This morning I heard something very interesting while listening to: 87.02.20.A (±30:00) wherein Srila Sridhara Maharaja refers to the verse:

ŚB 4.3.23

सत्त्वं विशुद्धं वसुदेवशब्दितं
यदीयते तत्र पुमानपावृत: ।
सत्त्वे च तस्मिन्भगवान्वासुदेवो
ह्यधोक्षजो मे नमसा विधीयते ॥ २३ ॥

sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditaṁ
yad īyate tatra pumān apāvṛtaḥ
sattve ca tasmin bhagavān vāsudevo
hy adhokṣajo me namasā vidhīyate

Synonyms

sattvam — consciousness; viśuddham — pure; vasudeva — Vasudeva; śabditam — known as; yat — because; īyate — is revealed; tatra — there; pumān — the Supreme Person; apāvṛtaḥ — without any covering; sattve — in consciousness; ca — and; tasmin — in that; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; vāsudevaḥ — Vāsudeva; hi — because; adhokṣajaḥ — transcendental; me — by me; namasā — with obeisances; vidhīyate — worshiped.

Translation

I am always engaged in offering obeisances to Lord Vāsudeva in pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is always pure consciousness, in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead, known as Vāsudeva, is revealed without any covering.

Srila Swami Maharaja also refers to this verse in several places. In his purport to it he says:

In pure devotional service one simply serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a matter of duty, without reason and without being impeded by material conditions.… Read More...

8/21/19

Dear Ishvara Upamana/Madhu Krishna das/Michael Sheludko/Researcher

Please accept my humble obeisances in remembrance of my Divine Masters.

I am a researcher, doing religion studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University, so the first interest is of this intention.

Prabhu, in Christian theology what is the term for a person who, once a Christian, turns away from Christ? Is the term not “heretic” or, perhaps, apostate? A heretic is one that believes in or practices heresy, which is defined as follows:

1) belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (especially Christian) doctrine:

2) opinion profoundly at odds with what is generally accepted:

As for apostate, we find this:

a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle

Applying the above principals to your case, are you not, as one who has rejected his Vaishnava Guru (Srila Govinda Maharaja), a heretic or apostate, if viewed in light of Christian terminology?

We met with you in Odessa in 1998, so just recall our conversations to find a friend in me, not an enemy.

I do recall our conversations. During them I saw the life Srila Govinda Maharaja gave you drain away from you, as a doctor, whose patient refuses the necessary treatment, is unable to reverse the course of a disease and can do nothing but watch as his patient’s life force slips away towards death’s door.… Read More...

(Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja Prabhupada in Melbourne)

Date: 8/18/19

To my friends in the grhasta-ashrama.

My dandavats Sriman Uddharan.

By chance after advising you not to take advantage of your gentle wife’s no fighting stance I happened to read this demand of Srila Prabhupada upon a bride to be (“I do promise to always serve and obey my husband . . . ”):

Śyāmasundara: “Henceforward from this day…”

Prabhupāda: Let him promise.

Śyāmasundara: Hmm.

Prabhupāda: You promise, “I…”

Śyāmasundara: You, Sanaka dāsa…

Prabhupāda: Say, “I, Sanaka dāsa…”

Sanaka: I, Sanaka dāsa…

Prabhupāda: Ah! “…take charge of you…”

Śyāmasundara: “…take charge of you…”

[girl laughs]

Prabhupāda: Why you are laughing? It is laughing thing? I told you first, don’t take anything very lenient. Very serious.

Śyāmasundara: “I, Sanaka dāsa, [Sanaka dāsa repeating] do hereby promise from this day henceforward to always protect and take for my wife Devadarśana dāsī.”

Prabhupāda: Yes. And you say that “I shall serve you…”

Śyāmasundara: Now, “I, Devadarśana dāsī, [Devadarśana repeating] do from this day henceforward, I do promise to always serve and obey my husband, Sanaka dāsa.”

Prabhupāda: Now change the garland. Now give her the vermilion, red powder. Cover her head.

Śyāmasundara: Cover her head with the sārī.… Read More...