10.31.09
Posted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Darshan, Esoteric Teaching, Nectar of Devotion at 7:11 am by anandavardhana
tatrādau suṣṭhu vaiśiṣṭyam asyāḥ kathayituṁ sphuṭam |
lakṣaṇaṁ kriyate bhakter uttamāyāḥ satāṁ matam ||1.1.10||
In the First Wave, to clearly describe the superiority of bhakti to other processes, the unique characteristics of uttama-bhakti, as approved by the ācāryas, will be related.
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam |
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā ||1.1.11||
The highest bhakti is defined as continuous service or emotions directed towards Kṛṣṇa, His expansion forms or others related to Him, with a pleasing attitude towards Kṛṣṇa. It should be devoid of desires other than the desire to please the Lord, and unobstructed by impersonal jñāna, the materialistic rituals of karma or other unfavorable acts.
Please join us for Evening Darshan live webcast daily except Sunday at 6:30 PM GMT+05:30 at our main site.
The video can be watched here on Youtube.
You can also download the original .mov file here.
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10.30.09
Posted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Darshan, Esoteric Teaching, Nectar of Devotion at 10:49 am by anandavardhana
bhakti-rasasya prastutir akhila-jagaṅ-maṅgala-prasaṅgasya |
ajñenāpi mayāsya kriyate suhṛdām pramodāya ||1.1.6||
Although I am ignorant, I have undertaken this work concerning bhakti-rasa related to Kṛṣṇa, who is auspicious for the whole world, for the joy of my friends.
etasya bhagavad-bhakti-rasāmṛta-payonidheḥ |
catvārah khalu vakṣyante bhāgāḥ pūrvādayaḥ kramāt ||1.1.7||
In this sweet ocean of bhakti-rasa offered to the Lord, four sections will be expounded one at a time, starting with the eastern section.
tatra pūrve vibhāgesmin bhakti-bheda-nirūpake |
anukrameṇa vaktavyaṁ laharīṇāṁ catuṣṭayam ||1.1.8||
The Eastern Ocean defines the different types of bhakti. This will be discussed in four successive waves (chapters).
ādyā sāmānya-bhakty-āḍhyā dvitīyā sādhanānvitā |
bhāvāśritā tṛtīyā ca turyā prema-nirūpikā ||1.1.9||
The First Wave of the Eastern Ocean is concerned with bhakti in general. The Second Wave describes sādhana-bhakti. The Third Wave describes bhāva-bhakti. The Fourth Wave describes prema-bhakti.
Please join us for Evening Darshan live webcast daily except Sunday at 6:30 PM GMT+05:30 at our main site.
The video can be watched here on Youtube.
You can also download the original .mov file here.
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10.29.09
Posted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Darshan, Esoteric Teaching, Nectar of Devotion at 10:44 am by anandavardhana
mīmāṁsaka-baḍavāgneḥ kaṭhinām api kuṇṭhayann asau |
sphuratu sanātana suciraṁ tava bhakti-rasāmṛtāmbhodhiḥ ||1.1.5||
O Sanātana, may your ocean of bhakti-rasa remain for a long time, restricting the harsh arguments of the proponents of karma and jñāna, just as the ocean restricts the flame of the vaḍabā fire.
The stage of pure devotional service is explained in Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Free from all mixture of karma, jñāna and yoga, uttama-bhakti springs from a sincere desire to please Kṛṣṇa. When we approach Kṛṣṇa with love, He makes all arrangements for His pure devotees’ maintenance and protection. This is our experience.
Please join us for Evening Darshan live webcast daily except Sunday at 6:30 PM GMT+05:30 at our main site.
The video can be watched here on Youtube.
You can also download the original .mov file here.
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10.27.09
Posted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Darshan, Esoteric Teaching, Nectar of Devotion at 10:59 pm by anandavardhana
We are still in the Eastern Ocean, First Wave.
hṛdi yasya preraṇayā pravartitoʼhaṁ varāka-rūpoʼpi | tasya hareḥ pada-kamalaṁ vande caitanya-devasya ||1.1.2||
“I offer my respects unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Though I am a vile person by nature, I have undertaken this work by His inspiration within my heart.”
viśrāma-mandiratyā tasya sanātana-tanor mad-īśasya | bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhur bhavatu sadāyam pramodāya ||1.1.3||
May this work named ‘the ocean of nectar composed of bhakti-rasa’ always serve as the recreation hall of my Lord manifested in the form called Sanātana (Gosvāmī) for His pleasure.
bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhau carataḥ paribhūta-kāla-jāla-bhiyaḥ | bhakta-makarān aśīlita-mukti-nadīkān namasāmi ||1.1.4||
I offer my respects to the devotees who are like makaras, kings among fishes, frolicking in the sweet ocean of devotional rasa; who disregard the insignificant rivers of liberation, and who are free from fear caused by the net of time.
Questions:
* It seems to me that impersonalists are denying their own nature and their very self, is this correct ?
* Please accept my humble obeisances. If one achieves one of the personal liberations at death but does not attain pure devotional service, are they then able to develop devotional service in their liberated state. Or would the Lord keep the aspiring devotee in the material world (in a favorable family as declared in B.g) because they desire the ocean rather than the river. E.g. If one is promoted to the Vaikuntha planets, could they then develop their relationship to be able to be promoted to Goloka Vrndavan for personal service?
* In the material world, we have several relationships with different living entities. In the spiritual world, is there only one relationship, or do we have several relationships ?
* Are the relationships in the spiritual world eternal also ?
* Does the sadhana bhakti have any sweetness like raganuga bhakti?
Please join us for Evening Darshan live webcast daily except Sunday at 6:30 PM GMT+05:30 at our main site.
The video can be watched here on Youtube.
You can also download the original .mov file here.
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10.25.09
Posted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Esoteric Teaching, Nectar of Devotion, Sunday Satsangs at 6:15 am by anandavardhana
We complete the discussion of the Maṅgalācaraṇam of Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu:
akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrtiḥ prasṛmara-ruci-ruddha-tārakā-pāliḥ |
kalita-śyāmā-lalito rādhā-preyān vidhur jayati ||1.1.1||
“Kṛṣṇa, the destroyer of all sin and the bestower of all bliss, the very form of the highest bliss, filled with all rasas, excels all others in glory. He brings Tārakā and Pālikā under His control by the diffusion of His beauty; He accepts Śyāmalā and Lālitā as His equals; and gives pleasure to Rādhā with His excellent qualities.”
Questions:
* Please accept my humble obeisances. What is the significance of Krsna’s shark earrings? Are there pastimes with sharks?
* Where can I find more information on the gopis?
* What’s the reason why different people on battle arena saw Krsna differently?
* Why is Krsna often displayed with a peacock feather or a peacock?
* Is Krsna only the incarnation that displays all the 12 Rasas? Or Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya part of it also?
Please join us for Evening Darshan live webcast daily except Sunday at 6:30 PM GMT+05:30 at our main site.
The video can be watched here on Youtube.
You can also download the original .mov file here.
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10.16.09
Posted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Darshan, Esoteric Teaching, Nectar of Devotion at 3:52 am by anandavardhana
During the month of Kārtika, the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana worship Kṛṣṇa in His Dāmodara form with the beautiful prayer Śrī Dāmodarāṣṭakam. Here is the translation:
1.To the Supreme Lord, whose form is the embodiment of eternal existence, knowledge, and bliss, whose shark-shaped earrings are swinging to and fro, who is beautifully shining in the divine realm of Gokula, who [due to the offense of breaking the pot of yogurt that His mother was churning into butter and then stealing the butter that was kept hanging from a swing] is quickly running from the wooden grinding mortar in fear of mother Yaśodā, but who has been caught from behind by her who ran after Him with greater speed-to that Supreme Lord, Śrī Dāmodara, I offer my humble obeisances.
2.[Seeing the whipping stick in His mother's hand,] He is crying and rubbing His eyes again and again with His two lotus hands. His eyes are filled with fear, and the necklace of pearls around His neck, which is marked with three lines like a conchshell, is shaking because of His quick breathing due to crying. To this Supreme Lord, Śrī Dāmodara, whose belly is bound not with ropes but with His mother’s pure love, I offer my humble obeisances.
3.By such childhood pastimes as this He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy, and is revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbued with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe and reverence. With great love I again offer my obeisances to Lord Dāmodara hundreds and hundreds of times.
4.O Lord, although You are able to give all kinds of benedictions, I do not pray to You for the boon of impersonal liberation, nor the highest liberation of eternal life in Vaikuṇṭha, nor any other boon [which may be obtained by executing the nine processes of bhakti ]. O Lord, I simply wish that this form of Yours as Bāla Gopāla in Vṛndāvana may ever be manifest in my heart, for what is the use to me of any other boon besides this?
5.O Lord, Your lotus face, which is encircled by locks of soft black hair tinged with red, is kissed again and again by mother Yaśodā, and Your lips are reddish like the bimba fruit. May this beautiful vision of Your lotus face be ever manifest in my heart. Thousands and thousands of other benedictions are of no use to me.
6.O Supreme Godhead, I offer my obeisances unto You. O Dāmodara! O Ananta! O Viṣṇu! O master! O my Lord, be pleased upon me. By showering Your glance of mercy upon me, deliver this poor ignorant fool who is immersed in an ocean of worldly sorrows, and become visible to my eyes.
7.O Lord Dāmodara, just as the two sons of Kuvera-Manigrīva and Nalakūvara-were delivered from the curse of Nārada and made into great devotees by You in Your form as a baby tied with rope to a wooden grinding mortar, in the same way, please give to me Your own prema-bhakti. I only long for this and have no desire for any kind of liberation.
8.O Lord Dāmodara, I first of all offer my obeisances to the brilliantly effulgent rope which binds Your belly. I then offer my obeisances to Your belly, which is the abode of the entire universe. I humbly bow down to Your most beloved Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and I offer all obeisances to You, the Supreme Lord, who displays unlimited pastimes.
We also continue to discuss the glories of Śrī Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-sindhu as we enter the miraculous realm of pure bhakti.
Please join us for Evening Darshan live webcast daily except Sunday at 6:30 PM GMT+05:30 at our main site.
The video can be watched here on Youtube.
You can also download the original .mov file here.
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10.12.09
Posted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Esoteric Teaching, Nectar of Devotion, Satsang at 5:50 am by anandavardhana
In today’s Sunday Satsang we will begin the auspicious description of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.
Where we are:
* The Eastern Ocean: Defining the Different Types of Bhakti
* The First Wave: General Overview of Bhakti
* Śloka: 1.1.1
akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrtiḥ prasṛmara-ruci-ruddha-tārakā-pāliḥ |
kalita-śyāmā-lalito rādhā-preyān vidhur jayanti ||
First Translation:
“Kṛṣṇa, the destroyer of all sin and the bestower of all bliss, the very form of the highest bliss, filled with all rasas, excels all others in glory. He brings Tārakā and Pālikā under His control by the diffusion of His beauty; He accepts Śyāmalā and Lālitā as His equals; and gives pleasure to Rādhā with His excellent qualities.”
Second Translation:
“The full moon, which destroys suffering and creates happiness by its cooling rays, shines everywhere by its excellent qualities and beauty. It is the very form of nectar, filled with all tastes. It eclipses the host of stars by its light, accepts the playful gestures of the night, and fondly enters the nakṣatra Viśākhā in the spring season.”
The commentaries are substantial and we may not finish them in one class, in which case we will continue them in subsequent Darshans.
Please join us for Evening Darshan live webcast daily except Sunday at 6:30 PM GMT+05:30 at our main site.
The video can be watched here on Youtube.
You can also download the original .mov file here.
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Posted in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Darshan, Esoteric Teaching, Nectar of Devotion at 5:46 am by anandavardhana
This is our first Evening Darshan after moving to India. We are going to concentrate on Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī’s masterpiece of pure devotional service, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, or “The Ocean of the Nectar of Immortality of Pure Bhakti-rasa.” This most profound Vedic work is an ontological analysis of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in which Vyāsadeva the author of the Vedas reveals the glories of pure devotional service. But we are certain to misunderstand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam without an adequate transcendental ontology, and Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu supplies this necessary background knowledge of the categories and nomenclature of pure devotional service.
Questions:
Should we read Nectar of Devotion before Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam then? I have been reading SB in the morning but would you recommend I concentrate on reading Nectar of Devotion and carefully following along with your darshans on Bhakti-rasamrta sindhu before proceeding with SB?
What do you mean by Sarasvati being at the Ganges and Yamuna in virtual form?
What are preliminary studies and preparations one must have before begin to approach Bhakti Rasa Mrita Sindhu?
Please join us for Evening Darshan live webcast daily except Sunday at 6:30 PM GMT+05:30 at our main site.
The video can be watched here on Youtube.
You can also download the original .mov file here.
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