Srila Giri Maharaja “Kīrtana is Not for Business”

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Date: 6/10/22

Dear Sriman Gaura dasa,

Please accept my humble obeisances.

On Oct 25, 2018, after learning you had a practice of going out for book distribution during the winter holidays season, I sent you an email containing some quotations regarding the glories of book distribution, book distributors and our gurus’ high appreciation for both. Among them was this one from Srila Sridhara Maharaja.

Srila Sridhara Maharaja: By canvassers in Navadwīpa, then Calcutta, so many subscribers. When the preaching party moved from different parts of the country they also collected subscribers, in this way. And also in the Calcutta market, in the Navadwīpa area station, big stations also, they’re like hawker, the brāhmacārīns came to spread like hawkers. Red clad brāhmacārīns, they’re hawkers, “Nadīyā Prakāśa, eka paisa, Nadīyā Prakāśa, take, one paisa,” distributed.

And so many persons used to come to ridicule those boys.

“You have no parents to take care of you? You are let loose for this unnecessary activity? What are you doing? You are devouring, swallowing your own future, you boys go, go home. With red clad come to canvas newspaper, what is Nadīyā Prakāśa? You are faced with such adverse position and pushing Nadīyā Prakāśa.”… Read More...

Srila Prabhupada on Spiritualization, Civilization, Militarization, War & Peace

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vande ‘haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca

śrī-rūpam sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam

sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ

śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca

The man having forgotten himself as the son of Godhead, has forsaken his real constitutional nature. He has misidentified himself with everything non-godly and therefore manipulates a material existence conducted by the mind and the six instrumental senses. He is concerned only with his material coverings of gross body and the subtle mind but cannot see either himself or his so-called numerous fellowmen. This is what we mean by Nescience which is darkness. The man having designated himself with the relation of his vehicular body and the finer elements of mind and ego etc., like the motor-car driver who has identified himself wrongly with the motor-car itself, has manufactured a civilization which is self contradictory and self denial.

His so-called rationality having not gone far above the rationality of the lower animals, he laments at the death of his fellowmen or at the loss of his own things which he has never witnessed by real experience. This is what we mean by Nescience which is darkness. He slightly feels only and that after the death of his fellowmen that the body loses something that moves it just like the driver moves the motor-car, but still due to the darkness of Nescience he never concerns himself with the driver of the body but takes care superficially only for the body or the mechanical car.… Read More...

Sola Scriptura = Sola “Broken People”

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5/4/22

Mr. Deace,

During your program yesterday (May 3, 2022) you repeated a common theme of yours “there are only broken people”, aka “all men are sinners.”

If all men are sinners the implication is this: God is powerless to make one sinless. A statement that cannot be true, for God’s power is unlimited. If you say he created one sinless person, Jesus, that only moves the problem one step away for it places another limit on God; he can create a sinless person, but only one.

Sola Scriptura

Another repetitive idiom of yours is your insistence upon total reliance to your belief in ’sola scriptura”, a tactic of ancient origin used to dismiss the authority of the pope who, like all ‘broken people’, should not be relied upon for dissemination of absolute truth as the Bible is the only source of infallible truth.

The logical conclusion of your beliefs is this: “there are only broken people”, people wrote the Bible; therefore, the Bible is broken. To put it another way: “all men are sinners”, the Bible was written by sinners who—like the pope—are fallible, therefore, the Bible written by them must also be fallible.

No amount of darkness can produce light.… Read More...

“Putin- A Great Coward” 

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The Cowardly Putin

Coming Soon: “Putin – The Biggest Coward of Them All”

Since the beginning of Russia’s surreptitious invasion of Ukraine in 2014 I have observed many cowardly actors in the form of leaders in the West. These include the current President of the USA and leaders of NATO member nations.

I have yet to see any leader behave in a more cowardly fashion than President Putin of Russia or any actors showing more bravery than the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, certain members of his government and the people of Ukraine who risk their lives to resist Putin’s intent to enslave them as he has done with the people of Russia.

I expect to present my reasoning in support of the above in the form of a post to be delivered here soon. I hope you’ll return to read it.

Swami B.K. Giri

Friday 3/18/2022. Sri Gaura-Purnima. Divine Appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

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We humbly invite you to participate in the grand festival of Sri Gaura-Purnima (The appearance day of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, the most magnanimous incarnation of Sri Krishna who appeared in this age of Kali to introduce Harinama-sankirtana — the congregational chanting of the Maha Mantra — as the most simple and sublime method for attaining love of God.) This day is also the beginning of the 537th Gaurabda year.

Celebrations will take place at Sri Gaura Vinoda Saraswat Sanga Headquarters in New Jersey.

Festivities will include Harinama-sankirtana, readings from Chaitanya-caritamrta, discourses and prasadam.

Fasting is observed until moonrise when some light prasadam (anukalpa) is distributed so that we may receive the blessings of prasadam and break the fast.

Please RSVP via the contact page.

Srila Giri Maharaja “For Ukraine, the World and Ourselves”

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3/12/22

Dear Srimati Chintāmaṇī devi Dāsī,

Please accept my blessings in remembrance of my Divine Masters.

We received your donations and will respond shortly, as you requested, with a supply of a variety of books including Loving Search.

The current news of the massacre of civilians in Ukraine by Putin’s military is greatly disturbing.

My inability to help them also weighs heavily on my mind. It is a great tragedy that the most powerful countries in the world stand by and watch as Putin systematically slaughters the men, women and children, grandmothers and grandfathers of Ukraine’s citizenry using demonic means; weapons that should never be used against civilians.

The tragedy is not confined to the people of Ukraine. It is a tragedy for the so-called Western democratic countries which refuse to allow their warriors to intervene in order to stop the carnage, which they could do if given a free hand and a little encouragement.

The duty of a warrior to protect is not confined to the borders of any particular country. The idea it should be has been manufactured by cowardly leaders whose only real interest is to protect themselves. As such, they cower like rats in a hole to the demands of evil men, like Putin, who dictate to them the terms by which they will be allowed to protect the innocent; terms that inevitably permit evil to be carried out in the full view of the world.… Read More...

Srila Giri Maharaja “A Word to the Wise”

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In the eighth grade I had an English teacher who often told us “A word to the wise is sufficient.” He said it to give emphasis to some point he was making.

I have wanted to speak to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine directed by the evil President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Each time I attempt to write or speak to the subject the territory of the discussion spreads out so broadly — due to a wide variety of pro and con arguments — I find it difficult to condense it into a form brief enough to hold what I suspect is the attention span of a potential audience.

In its simplest terms Russia is an aggressor to Ukraine. Such aggressors should be killed.

“Enemies, aggressor, they should be killed. There is no ātatāyī. Ātatāyī means one who is aggressor. One who kidnaps one’s wife, one who take away by force one’s wealth, one who sets fire in one’s house, these are called aggressor. So aggressor should be killed.”

— Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Bhagavad-gītā 2.2–6, Lecture, Dec. 11, 1972

My word to the wise? “[An] aggressor should be killed.”

I have come to refer to Vladimir Putin as evil, a demon.… Read More...

Srila Giri Maharaja “Putin: the Evil Minded Son of Stalin”

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To My Friends in Ukraine.

I just heard what I had hoped not to hear: Putin, the evil minded son of Stalin, has made an unprovoked attack on the peaceful country of Ukraine.

Although not a direct son of Stalin this verse makes me think President Putin of Russia is deserving of such a characterization.

Bg. 1.23

yotsyamānān avekṣe ’haṁ
ya ete ’tra samāgatāḥ
dhārtarāṣṭrasya durbuddher
yuddhe priya-cikīrṣavaḥ

Translation:
Let me see those who have come here to fight, wishing to please the evil-minded son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.

Purport

It was an open secret that Duryodhana wanted to usurp the kingdom of the Pāṇḍavas by evil plans, in collaboration with his father, Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Therefore, all persons who had joined the side of Duryodhana must have been birds of the same feather. Arjuna wanted to see them on the battlefield before the fight was begun, just to learn who they were, but he had no intention of proposing peace negotiations with them. It was also a fact that he wanted to see them to make an estimate of the strength which he had to face, although he was quite confident of victory because Kṛṣṇa was sitting by his side.

Like Dhrtarastra who sought to usurp the kingdom of the Pandavas, Putin seeks to take by force that which is not his and dominate the free people of Ukraine, a democratic sovereign nation.… Read More...

Preaching to the Choir

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Date: 2/2/22

Dear Sriman Madhava dasa,

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

Thanks, you are wholeheartedly serving the divine masters and you are distributing the nectar through the website.

Your kind words are greatly appreciated.

I feel bad, because it is Vaishnava etiquette to give donation. Unfortunately, I have not been working since start of Covid two years ago. But when I get my finances back together by the grace of Krishna, I will send you donation to your website.

ŚB 1.5.11

tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavo
yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty api
nāmāny anantasya yaśo ’ṅkitāni yat
śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ

Synonyms

tat — that; vāk — vocabulary; visargaḥ — creation; janatā — the people in general; agha — sins; viplavaḥ — revolutionary; yasmin — in which; prati-ślokam — each and every stanza; abaddhavati — irregularly composed; api — in spite of; nāmāni — transcendental names, etc.; anantasya — of the unlimited Lord; yaśaḥ — glories; aṅkitāni — depicted; yat — what; śṛṇvanti — do hear; gāyanti — do sing; gṛṇanti — do accept; sādhavaḥ — the purified men who are honest.

Translation

On the other hand, that literature which is full of descriptions of the transcendental glories of the name, fame, forms, pastimes, etc.,… Read More...