Illumination in Pure Devotional Service
This Darshan is a class on how to apply the Nārāyaṇa-kavaca Spiritual Armor described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.6. We are having some trouble with the levels so the recording has some gaps; soon we will produce an instructional video showing the application of the kavaca. The PDF document with the complete procedure is available here.
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This Sunday Satsang focuses on a song by Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur, Śrī Nāma-kīrtana. This very nice song is composed entirely of Holy Names of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and we discuss each of these names elaborately.
(from Gītāvalī by Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur)
(1)
yaśomatī-nandana, braja-baro-nāgara,
gokula-rañjana kāna
gopī-parāṇa-dhana, madana-manohara,
kāliya-damana-vidhāna
(2)
amala harinām amiya-vilāsā
vipina-purandara, navīna nāgara-bora,
baṁśī-badana suvāsā
(3)
braja-jana-pālana, asura-kula-nāśana
nanda-godhana-rākhowālā
govinda mādhava, navanīta-taskara,
sundara nanda-gopālā
(4)
yāmuna-taṭa-cara, gopī-basana-hara,
rāsa-rasika, kṛpāmoya
śrī-rādhā-vallabha, bṛndābana-naṭabara,
bhakativinod-āśraya
1) Lord Kṛṣṇa is the beloved son of mother Yaśodā; the transcendental lover in the land of Vraja; the delight of Gokula; Kāna [a nickname of Kṛṣṇa]; the wealth of the lives of the gopīs. He steals the mind of even Cupid and punishes the Kāliya serpent.
2) These pure holy names of Lord Hari are full of sweet, nectarean pastimes. Kṛṣṇa is the Lord of the twelve forests of Vraja, He is ever-youthful and is the best of lovers. He is always playing on a flute, and He is an excellent dresser.
3) Kṛṣṇa is the protector of the inhabitants of Vraja; the destroyer of various demoniac dynasties; the keeper and tender of Nanda Mahārāja’s cows; the giver of pleasure to the cows, land, and spiritual senses; the husband of the goddess of fortune; the butter thief; and the beautiful cowherd boy of Nanda Mahārāja.
4) Kṛṣṇa wanders along the banks of the River Yamunā. He stole the garments of the young damsels of Vraja who were bathing there. He delights in the mellows of the rāsa dance; He is very merciful; the lover and beloved of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī; the great dancer of Vṛndāvana; and the shelter and only refuge of Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda.
This video is also available on YouTube.
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Tonight’s class was on Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 11: Aspects of Transcendental Service.
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This Sunday Satsang is a summary and discussion of the beautiful Vaiṣṇava song, Bhajahu Re Mana by Śrīla Govinda dāsa Kavirāja. The text and translation of the song is below. Please go over it as we sing in kīrtan.
bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana
abhaya-caraṇāravinda re
durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge
taroho e bhava-sindhu re
“O mind, just worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which make one fearless. Having obtained this rare human birth, cross over this ocean of wordly existence through the association of saintly persons.”
śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa
e dina jāminī jāgi re
biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana
capala sukha-laba lāgi’ re
“Day and night I remain sleepless, suffering heat and cold, wind and rain. For a bit of flickering happiness I have vainly served wicked and miserly men.”
e dhana, yaubana, putra, parijana
ithe ki āche paratīti re
kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala
bhajahū hari-pada nīti re
“What assurance of real happiness is there in all one’s wealth, youth, sons, and relatives? This life totters like a drop of water on a lotus petal; therefore you should always worship the lotus feet of Lord Hari.”
śravaṇa, kīrtana, smaraṇa, vandana,
pāda-sevana, dāsya re
pūjana, sakhī-jana, ātma-nivedana
govinda-dāsa-abhilāṣa re
“Govinda dāsa longs to hear the glories of Lord Hari, chant His glories, constantly remember Him, offer Him prayers, serve His lotus feet, become His servant, worship Him, serve Him as a friend, and completely offer Him his very self.”
This video is also available on YouTube.
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Tonight we had a long discussion on topics of the ontology of consciousness raised in Hegel’s very important book The Phenomenology of Mind. This deep conversation pretty much covers the entire spectrum of consciousness from undeveloped to the highest stage of self-realization. Guaranteed to make your head spin, or your money back!
listen(MP3 audio)
If it is hard to hear the other devotees (because of the noise suppression), you might want to listen to the raw file (MP3 audio)
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Tonight’s Darshan begins with a rousing kīrtan and then we go through Nectar of Devotion Chapter 10, Techniques of Hearing.
listen(MP3 audio)
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This Sunday Satsang we retold the story of the appearance of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, the half-man, half-lion incarnation of Kṛṣṇa who is the fierce protector of His devotees. This is the first time that we actually filled our meeting room with 20 devotees. I apologize if anyone was unable to attend the meeting because of this. If this enthusiastic attendance continues, we will have to upgrade our DimDim account to a paid service, and that will hold up to 50 users, plus give up better video quality. The sound and video have been very good in our new location, and will get even better when we get our DSL line this week. So please continue to attend these Satsangs as we improve our streaming service quality.
This video is also available on YouTube.
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Here is the final part of Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 9.
listen(MP3 audio)
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This Sunday Satsang is a summary and discussion of the Fourth Chapter of Nectar of Devotion: Devotional Service Surpasses All Liberation. Lately we have been reading and posting this wonderful transcendental literature, which is the heart and soul of the Esoteric Teaching.
This was a great Satsang, with at least 14 logins and a whole lot of questions that made for a lively discussion!
This video is also on YouTube.
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Here is a video Darshan about our vision for spiritual community. It expands the challenge I made to Teo in this thread. It is time for us to begin the process of establishing local Esoteric Teaching groups in many places around the world. As the economic collapse deepens and spreads, these will eventually grow into rural spiritual communities. We are in a position to establish an alternative culture based on spiritual values, and this is the time to do it. The complete explanation is there in the video:
This video is also posted on YouTube.
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