“Their Lotus Feet are my Life and Soul”

Srila Bhaktivedanta Madhava Maharaja

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah

“O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance.”

Today, as I read the final chapter of Sri Siksastakam by Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja Gurudeva, reading the commentary of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura and Gurudeva, I was struck by this beautiful prayer by Srila Bhaktivinode:

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura

“Sri Nanda-nandana, who plays the flute and steals the hearts of the entire universe, is graciously seated on a jewelled throne with Srîmatî Vrshabhånu-nandinî, at the seat of Their transcendental pastimes, surrounded by the eight principal sakhîs in a kadamba forest of transcendental Vrndåvana.

“The lotus feet of this eternally youthful Divine Couple are my life and soul. I have offered myself at Their lotus feet. I am Their maidservant (pålyadåsî) engaged in the service of Their lotus feet.Sometimes They take hold of my hands, and with sweet voices, They request tåmbüla and then eat it. Sometimes with great wonder, They take a garland from me and wear it. While at other times, They disappear from me on some pretext. O sakhî, happiness is found wherever They are found. I am a maidservant of Their lotus feet. Bliss obtained in Their company and torture endured in Their separation are all the same to me.

“In life and in death – at all times – Sri Sri Rådhå-Krsna are my very life. Bhaktivinoda knows no one else but Them. Falling at the lotus feet of Their dearmost sakhîs, I beg for one thing alone: that they accept me into the personal group of Srîmatî Rådhikå and engage me always in the service of the lotus feet of the Divine Couple.”

Sri Siksastakam Song 8-B, from Chapter 8 of Sri Siksastakam

Sri Sri Radha-Krishna with maidservants

I know that I said my next post would be a month out, and would reveal the 3 confidential reasons that Lord Krsna took the mood and complexion of His beloved Radha and appeared as Lord Gauranga/Sacinanda/Caitanya, but….this really struck me. So I just had to share it. And here is some beautiful art, too!

Srimati Radhika & Krsna – Trying to find out who the artist is!

Keep your eyes on the lookout for the next post, which WILL have those 3 secret reasons for His appearance!

Aspiring to serve,

C.S.

Faults in One’s Practice

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah
“O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance.”

 

“If anyone is practicing for a very long time and these results are not coming, then we should understand that there is some loophole. There is some fault in one’s practice. If we eat food but our hunger is not going away, we should think that we must have a very serious disease. There may be some worms in our stomach that are eating everything, and therefore we are not getting any nutrition.

“At once we should go and surrender to a doctor who can adjust our diet and give us some medicine so that our eating will actually nourish us. In the same way, if there is no effect from our devotional practices, we should submit ourselves at the lotus feet of the sad-guru and the pure Vaisnavas. They will adjust our practices in such a way that the development of our bhakti, our seva-vrtti, realization, and detachment from this world will come as we go on practicing.

“This will not come all at once. When we eat one bite, we feel something, but not completely. We therefore take another bite and another, and gradually the effect of eating comes. In the same way, if one is in the line of pure bhakti, these three effects will gradually manifest in his life.”

~ Srila Gurudeva Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja (Birmingham, June 25, 2001)

 

Aspiring to serve,

CSK

Real Guru-Puja

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah
“O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance.”

 

Tomorrow is the holy appearance day of Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharaja, Jai Gurudeva! Here he speaks on how, on every vyasa-puja of your guru, Vyasa should be worshipped, along with the entire guru-parampara:

 

On this day, a disciple or acarya bows down at the lotus feet of Sri Gurudeva, from where he has obtained all kinds of knowledge. You should especially know that tattva-jnana, knowledge of established philosophical truths, is not sufficient. From where will the mood to weep, as the gopis used to weep, come? Srimati Radhika is always weeping, intoxicated in krsna-prema. Krsna laments and suffers for Her, but He does not become so maddened. There are many manifestations of Radha dancing with Krsna, but for Radhika there is only one Krsna.  Vyasadeva is himself Narayana, and he has revealed all this.

Perform guru-parampara puja, beginning from your gurudeva, then to the rupanuga guru-varga, and so on. 1) guru-pancaka (Sri Guru, Parama-guru, Paramesthi-guru, Paratpara-guru, Paramaparatpara-guru); 2) acarya-pancaka (Sri Sukadeva, Ramanuja, Madhva, Visnusvami, Nimbaditya); 3) vyasa-pancaka (Sri Vedavyasa, Paila, Vaisampayana, Jaimini, Sumanta); 4) sanakadi-pancaka (Sri Sanaka, Sanatkumara, Sanatana, Sanandana, Visvaksena); 5) krsna-pancaka (Sri Krsna, Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, Aniruddha); 6) upasya-pancaka (Sri Radhika, Krsna, Gaura, Gadadhara, Sri Gurudeva); and 7) panca-tattva (Sri Krsna Caitanya, Nityananda, Advaita Acarya, Gadadhara, Srivasa).

Holding our hearts in his hands…

Jai Gurudeva!

Transcendental writer

Lotus feet

 

aspiring to serve,

CSK