Hare Krsna Prabhu jee and Mata jee!
Can someone tell me more about Radhanath Swami? Is he accessible to common people? I read that he resides in Mumbai. Has anyone met him? Is there any way to meet him or email him? Please share.
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Thanks Prabhu jee! All links are good.
Hari Bol!
Hare Krsna. Radhanath Swami(Richard Slavin) was born as and raised in Chicago, USA. He belonged to well to do family with both his parents and grandparents instilled devotional qualities in him right from the beginning. From the beginning Radhanath Swami was unusually humble and had strange peculiarities with respect to the so called material etiquette. Once while he was in a restaurant he couldn't believe to be served by a boy who was his classmate. He immediately jumped off and ran outside to be sitting alone in a car. Later he told his grandfather that seeing his equal friend acting as a waiter was unbearable for him and hence he rejected that place and then he begged forgiveness to his grandfather who was very pleased to hear his grandson's empathy towards his friend.
Once while studying under the care of a Rabbi, who used to make him learn prayers and recite them. Once Richard very politely and unassumingly asked, " Rabbi, what is the meaning of this prayer". Tears welled down his shining beard and he was very happy that even as a small boy, he had such curiosity to know what does it mean to pray to God because that was becoming rare.
Actually to tell the glories of Radhanath Swami is just like a bird trying to dry the ocean, although we can get the nectar by reading his much famous and widely acclaimed autobiography The Journey Home. This book released some time back is so powerful that it is transforming the hearts of people who have read the book. To say in short the transcendental difficulties that took Richard to become Radhanath Swami, are beyond our farthest imagination and how he just came closer and closer to Krsna with what ever he faced in his life is heartening. I highly appreciate your interest to inquire about such a powerful instrument of SP which has come to deliver fallen souls like us and i recommend you to read The Journey Home and share with others for the benefit of all of us.
Yes he is very much accesible to people during his stay in ISKCON, Chowpatty where we can hear him live, otherwise he has an extremely hectic schedule while he is here or abroad. Here are some of his websites where you can get to know more about him.
www.radhanathswami.us
www.radhanathswamionline. com
www. myspiritualmaster. com
www.radhanath-swami. net
www.thejourneyhomebook. com
www.radhanathswami.com
www.itsohappened.com
yas satyam
Hare Krsna!
Thanks Prabhu jee. Do we need an appointment to meet him, if you know. I am a worldly person, fairly new to IsKCon. Please guide.
Also is there anyone else who has so much clarity in thoughts and speech that I can follow? Are all GBC members this gifted?
Hari Bol!
Your servant,
Sharanagat
www.radhanathswami.us - as a first step join this website
Hare Krsna!!! Thanks Prabhu jee, you are the best! Thanks again.
The relationship of a guru and a disciple is divine and not material. Just pray honestly for his mercy and you will see miracles happening in your life.
Srila Prabhupad once said that anyone who follows the instruction of his spiritual master perfectly is a pure devotee. Radhanath Swami is contributing to the mission of SP as well as other senior devotees and disciples of SP and hence they are empowered by the mercy of the Lord and spiritual master. So external is not so important but how much a devotee is surrendered to the words of Guru and Krsna is eligible to be gifted by the mercy of the Lord.
Although you have a very genuine desire to meet him personally it might be difficult but you can always associate Radhanath Swami by his lectures which you can get very easily on this website itself. Association by hearing is recommended since it is more readily available than physical association although both are is purifying to the heart of a conditioned soul. So you can hear the lectures of Mh and you can also visit your Chowpatty temple if Mh is giving live class and then you can have a chance to associate in his presence.
Thanks Prabu jee! Excellent resources.
Hari Bol!
prabhuji, i didn't speak with Radhanath swami..though
but i can explain what i learnt from him.. .shud i ... so that we can discuss over that topic..??
i liked this topic of "Crab apples"
maharaj was given the service of grazing cows wheh in new york
and he used to take the cows to grazing grounds but on the way the cows used stray towards crab apples
(these aren't good for cows as they would bloat their stomach and they might even die)
and Radhanath swami had strict orders from srila prabhupada that he shud treat cows as krishna himself .... so beating the stick was out of question... maharaj tired to hush the cows away from the crab apple trees but they seemed so tasty to the ignorant cows that they wouldn't leave them....
maharaj was in dilemma ... he couldn't let them eat those apples (out of love for them as he knew these apples weren't good for them) nor was he able to hush away the cows from these apples....
finally maharaj got a great idea... he knew that the cows used to like molasses... (the by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar ) very much..
so maharaj took one bucket of molasses and lured the cows towards the grazing fields and then poured it there so finally maharaj was able to distract the cows from crab apples..
then Radhanath Swami maharaj told us that we all have crab apples in our lives....
these appear so tasty to us that its hard for us to move away from them... even if we know that they would harm us.
Krishna devotees know it much better that the crab apples of our lives... the material desires and all the materialistic thing in the world... are sure to hamper/hurt our spiritual path... hence they try the Un-KC people to lure towards the Krishna Conscious...
as radhanath swami maharaj used the word .... give them a "higher taste" in life. so that they would leave the crab apples... a taste which is much much better than the material desires....
the higher taste being the taste of Krishna Conscious.....
but at last he told Beware of the Crab apples.
radhanath swami maharaj,
is a wonderful speaker he uses humour in his speech would keep us glued to his pravachan and he has this charisma due to which people get submerged in what maharaj is saying...!!
and i feel blessed
as the 1st pravachan to which i listened in ISKCON temple was of Radhanath swami maharaj.
Hari Bol!
What an expression - 'treat cows like Krsna', such a profound thought. More such please.