Source of Inspiration: Daily Quotations from Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

By Bhaktabandhav

This is a daily quotation book of words from Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja (Śrīla Gurudeva), a foremost saintly leader of spiritual devotion in the generation of descendants in the disciplic lineage from Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrīla Gurudeva traveled and spread the message of pure love throughout India for 60 years and expanded his mission throughout the world for the last 14 years of his manifestation on this planet. This book is a compilation of what he said on a particular day and where he was on that day. This book serves many purposes: (1) a daily inspirational reader, (2) an introduction to Śrīla Gurudeva, (3) a resource of Śrīla Gurudeva’s travels, (4) a portal into further investigation into the spiritual path revealed herein.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bhaktabandhav
• Release date: Jan 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781943614011

Bhaktabandhav

Bhaktabandhav

Book preview

SOURCE OF INSPIRATION

Daily Quotations from

Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Source of Inspiration: Daily Quotations from Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

ISBN: 978-1-943614-01-1

First eBook (iBook and ePub) Edition

Copyright © 2016 Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Published by Bhaktabandhav. Some rights reserved

Except where otherwise noted, content in this book is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by writing to [e-mail]

Source of Inspiration:

Daily Quotations from Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Manifested by the causeless mercy of

nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa-om-viṣṇupada paramārādhyatama rūpānuga-ācārya-varya bhakta-bāndhava

Śrī Śrīmad

Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Best amongst the 11th generation of descendants

in the bhāgavata-paramparā from Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Caitanya Mahāprabhu

and foremost bestower of vraja-bhakti in the modern age.

Presented on this holy Disappearance day of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī (January 12, 2016)

"I do not want any devotee taking the renounced order to fall down. I want that, until their death, they should be very strong and preach our mission—even after I leave. They should never be weak. Guru never dies. I want that after I leave, our mission should go on; our preaching should be continued."

Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nāryaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja: March 14, 2003 Navadvīpa

Foreward

We live in such a busy world. Our information-nerve highways are like rush hour in LA—all the time. Hari-kathā is also described to be unlimited—hari-ananta hari-kathā-ananta—just like Lord Hari Himself. Those who are immersed in the ever-flowing stream of hari-kathā can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the constant flow of nectar. We hear so much, on so many topics, how much can we absorb? And what about the devotees who love Śrīla Gurudeva’s hari-kathā but just don’t have enough time to read it all? To put it into context, we’ve already transcribed more than 2,000 lectures. At roughly ten pages each that’s 20,000 pages! Granted, it’s not all published yet, but still, we’re just getting started.

So, at Bhaktabandhav we’ve come up with a solution. We know that hari-kathā is medicine for the ailing soul and nectar for the purified. And its our service to provide hari-kathā to everyone according to their needs, great or small. That’s why we’ve made a daily calendar quotation book, to go along with all Śrīla Gurudeva’s books, transcriptions, audio, and video files.

The idea of the quotation book is to enrich each day with a therapeutic dose of Gurudeva’s hari-kathā. Powered by the idea that when we wake up in the morning, or when we take a lunch break, or before going to sleep, we could read and meditate on an inspirational quote from Śrīla Gurudeva that he spoke on that same calendar day! We’ve therefore compiled this quote book, first of a proposed series, and present it to the devotee community. We hope it receives a warm welcome into their gadgets, homes, and hearts.

Praying for the mercy of Guru and Vaiṣṇavas,

Dāsanudāsa,

Rasik Mohan Dāsa

Bhaktabandhav Śrī Rādhe kuñja, Vṛndāvana-dhāma

12 January 2016, (Disappearance day of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Jagadīśa Pandit)

Preface

The following is a compilation of quotations of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja (Śrīla Gurudeva). Śrīla Gurudeva began his first world tour in 1996 and traveled the globe each year until his divine departure in 2010. Prior to 1996 he preached extensively in Mathurā, India. He traveled and preached in other parts of India, but his headquarters were in Mathurā and he chose to develop a strong base there. Whenever he returned from his world tours he was warmly welcomed back to Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha in Mathurā.

The endeavor to compile this daily quotation book began on the auspicious day of Akṣaya Tṛtiyā 2014 (Friday, May 02, 2014). It’s been stated in scriptures and confirmed by vaiṣṇavas that Akṣaya Tṛtiyā is an auspicious day to began new projects. Therefore, we pray that this work will surely be successful; particularly if Hari, Guru, and Vaiṣṇavas find it befitting of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya.

In future editions of this book, we will provide audio files for each date to accompany the current presentation.

Aspiring to serve Śrī Hari, Guru and Vaiṣṇavas,

Vaiṣṇava dāsanudāsa

Devānanda dāsa

Acknowledgements

ॐ Portions of the text were taken from the hari-kathā newsletters and purebhakti.com. Special thanks to the Hari-Kathā team.

ॐ All remaining quotations were found on the audio file archive of sbnmcd.org/all_mp3/. Special thanks to Isa dāsa prabhu for maintaining this invaluable archive.

Contributors

Editor/Diacritics/Proofreader/Fidelity Check

ॐ Rasik Mohan dāsa

Compiler/Proofreader

ॐ Devānanda dāsa

Our Lineage

In service of our Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya:

nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Babaji Mahārāja

nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura

nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrīla Gaurakiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja

nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda

nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja

nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Gosvāmī Mahārāja

nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja

nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

January

If someone is a pure devotee or a rasika-vaiṣṇava then, without question, ever-flowing glories of the Lord will emanate from his lips. And if anyone bathes in that stream of sacred words glorifying the Lord, he will forget about what to eat and when to sleep, and he will have no fear of death. Rather you will find him weeping and calling out, How can I meet Kṛṣṇa!

January 01, 1999 Murwillumbah

If you had $100 in your pocket and you misplaced it, then you would look for it here and there and everywhere. And if you wanted to buy something from a shop and you reached for your wallet but it was missing, then you would say, Oh, where is it? Where has it gone? Have I left it here or there? Where? You then become so worried and restless. But you are not being restless for your bhajana.

January 02, 1999 Murwillumbah

Kṛṣṇa is like the sun and devotees are like lotus flowers. If a lotus flower is in water then the sun helps it to blossom; but if there is no water then the sun burns the flower. So, guru is like water. If guru is not there, then you will be burned by all your worship of Kṛṣṇa—there will be no fruit.

January 03, 1999 Murwillumbah

If your son is dead and you call him, will he come? So, this body is not the self—you should understand. And there is the soul and Supersoul in this body. You should try to know that relation and you should do

of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord. You should realize that you are not the body. The body is a bag of urine, stool, and blood.

January 04, 2008 Auckland

What is bhakti? Bhakti is the goal of our life. Bhakti is of two kinds: vaidhī and rāgānugā. Rāgānuga-bhakti is our goal and in this goal we want rādhā-dāsyam.

January 05, 2010 Pietermaritzburg

Those who are indifferent to us, to Kṛṣṇa, to hari-kathā, service of Vaiṣṇavas, association of devotees—they are self-killers—worse than hunters. Don’t give up. If you are lusty—if you are anything from A to Z—don’t give up Vaiṣṇava association.

January 06, 2001 Maui

If you want to catch someone, then you need to run faster than that person. Yaśodā Mātā caught Kṛṣṇa, but Brahmā cannot catch Kṛṣṇa—even with the speed of the mind. How could Yaśodā Mātā catch Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa has love and affection for all souls and especially for His associates. If the love and affection of Yaśodā Mātā is equal to that which He has for her, then she could not have caught Him. The love of mother Yaśodā is thus more than even Kṛṣṇa’s love to His mother.

January 07, 2001 Maui

There are many symptoms of guru. Vyasadeva wrote what he saw in samādhi. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is samādhi language. If a guru knows all the Indian scriptures and he can remove the doubts of his disciples, and he has some realization of God, Kṛṣṇa, and especially is detached from this world—then he is called a guru. If anyone has taken shelter of a guru like this, he must be liberated one day; but he must be careful of the ten kinds of offenses.

January 08, 2010 Durban

Devotee: When we are practicing, doubts are coming. Is it that we are not sincere, those who are practicing? Or is it a lack of advancement in the practitioner?

Śrīla Gurudeva: You are not hearing in the proper way; anarthas have not gone fully.

Devotee: Because of our nature, will we only achieve a certain level? Or will we advance from one level to the next level?

Śrīla Gurudeva: By hearing, qualification comes and greed will come. Though a person may be bad—that in him so many anarthas are there, bad character even—but by hearing, like Bilvamaṅgala, you will have some greed to serve. Then your taste will be to hear those who are following like that, or those who are expert. By hearing, gradually it will come.

January 09, 2008 Auckland

(Regarding Śrīla Svāmī Prabhupāda) He began to hear hari-kathā and he took initiation in 1922. Then he was reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and saw a śloka: if anyone takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa and chants, remembers, and hears the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa very soon—very soon—at once—takes away all the wealth and reputation, and he becomes like a street beggar, always chanting

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

January 10, 1999 Fiji

Parā-bhakti is the continuous, uninterrupted flow of activities performed by our body, mind, words, and bhāvas which are executed only for the benefit of Kṛṣṇa. Such activities are not disturbed or covered by jñāna and karma and are performed under the guidance of guru-tattva. If there is a lack of the above symptoms in a devotee’s activities, but bhakti is there to a small degree, we can still call it bhakti—but not parā-bhakti.

January 11, 2003 Hilo

What is vyāsa? If a line is drawn from any point of a circle, it touches the middle point and crosses to the other side of the circle—that is called vyāsa. So, vyāsa means one who preaches all over the world. He preaches that we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, but that we have forgotten this. Vyāsāsana is a seat for one who preaches everywhere in the world that we are eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa and we have now forgotten Him—and that is why His illusory māyā has forcefully thrown us into this world.

January 12, 2010 Brazil

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has said that to chant Kṛṣṇa’s name, to chant the mahamantra, is non-different from taking darśana of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You need not worry about when darśana will come. Try to take darśana of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, Mahāprabhu, and Nityānanda Prabhu in Their names. The holy name is more powerful and merciful than even Kṛṣṇa Himself. So why worry? We worry because we have no faith.

January 13, 2001 Singapore

Without bhakti we cannot be liberated. But what is that bhakti-yoga? Love and affection, to the extreme point, for the Supreme Controller. Service without any worldly gain.

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā

yayātmā suprasīdati

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.6

The supreme occupation (dharma) for all humanity is that by which people can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.

But Rūpa Gosvāmī has learned from Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Kṛṣṇa and Rādhikā combined, and he made a very beautiful definition of bhakti. You should all try to hear its meaning, know its meaning, and engage yourself in that kind of bhakti.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

ānukūlena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 19.167)

When first-class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge obtained by monistic philosophy, and fruitive action. The devotee must constantly serve Kṛṣṇa favorably, as Kṛṣṇa desires.

January 14, 2007 Kona

I want a revolution like this: we should come to the real path, in the real sense. Kṛṣṇa will arrange for someone to come after me; and after that anyone else will come, and this will not be ruined. The world will be ruined, but this line is eternal. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has said that this line is eternal. Someone from any group will come.

January 15, 2000 Australia

How does śraddhā begin? In sādhu-saṅga. We are eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa. Don’t have any world desires. Don’t engage yourself in sense gratification. Kṛṣṇa is so powerful. You will be happy if you practice any of the 64 limbs of bhakti; but you cannot be happy by collecting money. Money cannot give you happiness and calm and peace in your life. You should carefully hear and try to keep all these teachings in your heart and practice like Jīva Gosvāmī.

January 16, 2002 Hawaii

Anyone who lives in Vṛndāvana, all the sādhakas like the Six Gosvāmīs and anyone in their line, those who live in Vraja and do bhajana day and night, and those who don’t worship Kṛṣṇa, rather they worship Rāma or Nṛsiṁhadeva and other manifestations of Godhead, they should always be honored. And of the brāhmaṇas who are not one-pointed to Kṛṣṇa but worship Durgā, Kali, Rāma, Śaṅkara, and Gaṇeśa—they should be properly honored. Don’t disrespect them.

January 17, 1998 Murwillumbah

Don’t disregard anyone, even if they don’t have bhakti. You cannot associate with them—but don’t dishonor them. In your family, if someone is not doing bhajana, you should not make a problem for them. Don’t always disregard them. You should not tell hari-kathā to them, but your behavior should be very sweet.

January 18, 1998 Murwillumbah

In sādhu-saṅga we will inspire each other to speak about the sweet pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. All scriptures promote the fact of sādhu-saṅga. In a moment we can be changed. Our cruelty, our duplicity, our quarrels—all problems will be solved or go away forever. Do sāṣṭānga-praṇāma to the place where hari-kathā is happening. If a qualified devotee is giving class then we should give praṇāma to him, to those who are managing the program, to hari-kathā itself, as well as to the audience. How? By tongue, mind, body. Do praṇāma to all.

January 19, 2001 Murwillumbah

Rūpa-Sanātana and all other saints used to weep bitterly and cry out like this: Oh, Kṛṣṇa! Where are You? Oh, Śrīmatī Rādhikā! Where are You? Oh, Lalitā! Where are you? I’m going to give up my life! Please be merciful to me. Sometimes they were rendered unconsciousness and Śrīmatī Rādhikā would come and say, What are you doing? I want that you all should be like that. Don’t quarrel among yourselves—for any reason. If you are all like this, then how could you quarrel?

January 20, 2001 Murwillumbah

The bona fide guru does not consider that his disciples are his property. He does not think, They are my property. Nowadays I see this going on. So-called gurus think that their disciples are their property, so they accept all their offerings and fall down. A real guru never thinks like that.

January 21, 2004 Hilo

We are all sleeping—somewhat less or more. We are all sleeping. And the worldly persons—totally sleeping—like hogs and pigs. They have no sense at all. So, jīva jāgo! What are you doing in this world? Sense gratification? Collecting money? With children and wife? So much