Today is the disappearance day of Sri Isvara Puri. He was such a perfect disciple of Sri Madhavendra Puri that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Krishna Himself, was pleased to accept him as his spiritual master. Later, Lord Chaitanya visited Isvara Puri’s birthplace at Kumara-hatta and collected some earth from the birth site, which He kept very carefully and ate a small portion of daily. Thus He showed us how a faithful disciple worships a spiritual master who has faithfully served his spiritual
disappearance day (117)
Srimad Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami writes: “All glories to Madhavendra Puri, the storehouse of all Krishna-prema! He is a desire tree of bhakti, and it is to him that the seed of bhakti first fructified. The seed of Krishna-prema next fructified in the for of Sri Ishvara Puri, and then the gardener himself, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, became the main trunk of the tree of bhakti.
Isvara Puri was born in the town of Kumara Hatta on the full moon day of the month of Jyestha to a family of Brahmins haili
By Giriraj Swami
Today is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada’s appearance day. We have heard about His Divine Grace already. Today is also the disappearance day of HH Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja. He left on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s appearance day.
I remember the first time we celebrated Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s appearance day. I was a new devotee in Boston temple in early 1970, and Srila Prabhupada instructed us how to observe the appearance day of the spiritual
By Madhavananda Das
From chapter 15 of When Good Fortune Arises
“I MAY LEAVE”
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Shortly after hearing his comments following the 1995 GBC meetings, a couple of disciples of Gour Govinda Maharaja approached their spiritual master: “Guru Maharaja, we don’t need these people. We can leave ISKCON and start our own society. You have so many disciples, it won’t be any problem.”
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Hearing their suggestion, Gour Govinda Swami became very grave. Shaking his head no, he said, “The only way I will leave I
Today is the disappearance anniversary of Sripada Ramanujacharya, the principal acharya in the Sri, or Lakshmi, sampradaya. In a letter dated November 22, 1974, Srila Prabhupada wrote, “We find great shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Ramanujacharya because his lotus feet are the strongest fort to combat the Mayavadi philosophy.” And in the early days of ISKCON in India, before we had Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is in Hindi, Prabhupada would refer people to read the Hindi edition of th
indriyesu manas tani tan-matresu yathodbhavam bhutadinamuny utkrsya mahaty atmani sandadhe
TRANSLATION: He amalgamated the mind with the senses and the senses with the sense objects, according to their respective positions, and he also amalgamated the material ego with the total material energy, mahat-tattva.
PURPORT: In respect to the ego, the total material energy is sundered in two parts — one agitated by the mode of ignorance and the other agitated by the modes of passion and goodness. Due
Today is Sripada Madhvacharya’s disappearance day. Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter 9, describes him:
TEXT 245
madhvacarya-sthane aila yanha ‘tattvavadi’
udupite ‘krsna’ dekhi, tahan haila premonmadi
TRANSLATION
Caitanya Mahaprabhu next arrived at Udupi, the place of Madhvacarya, where the philosophers known as Tattvavadis resided. There He saw the Deity of Lord Krsna and became mad with ecstasy.
PURPORT
Sripada Madhvacarya took his birth near Udupi, which is situated in the South Kan
Shri Madhvacharya appeared near Udupi, Karnataka in South India. He was considered an incarnation of Vayu (wind god). He had an unusually strong physique and extraordinary intellectual power.
Once a fierce tiger attacked Madhvacharya’s sannyasa disciple, Satya Tirtha. Madhvacharya wrestled the tiger and sent him away with his tail between his legs. Madhvacharya took diksha at age five, sannyasa at twelve and left home.
He appeared with a mission to fight and defeat Sankara’s Mayavada (imperson
Shri Jayadeva Goswami appeared in either the eleventh or twelfth century of the Shaka era. There is a difference of opinion about his place of birth. The majority opinion holds that he was from the village of Kendubilva, presently in the district of Birbhum. Others claim that he was born in either Orissa or South India.
Kendubilva is situated about twenty miles south of Siuri on the banks of the Ajaya River. In the Gaudiya Vaishnava Abhidhana, it is stated that Jayadeva found his Radha Madhava
Srila Narottama dasa Thakura has sung: “daya koro sri acarya prabhu srinivasa, ramacandra sanga mage narottama dasa—O Srinivasa acarya Prabhu, kindly have mercy upon me; Narottama dasa always prays for the association of Ramacandra Kaviraja.”
Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja was one of the internal associates of Narottama Thakura. The two of them were practically inseparable. Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja had obtained the full mercy and blessings of Srinivasa acarya. Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja’s father’s na
Shri Ramachandra Kaviraja was the disciple of Shrinivasa Acharya Prabhu and the very intimate friend of Narottama dasa Thakura. His father was Chiranjiva Sena and Mother Shri Sunanda. Chiranjiva was originally an inhabitant of Kumara nagar but after marrying the daughter of Shri Damodara Kavi he moved to Shri Khanda.
“Chiranjiva Sena was a pure Devotee very much loved by Narahari Sarkar and the other residents of Shri Khanda. He was extremely learned in all matters and his wife was very chaste a
Srila Narottama dasa Thakura has sung: “daya koro sri acarya prabhu srinivasa, ramacandra sanga mage narottama dasa—O Srinivasa acarya Prabhu, kindly have mercy upon me; Narottama dasa always prays for the association of Ramacandra Kaviraja.”
Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja was one of the internal associates of Narottama Thakura. The two of them were practically inseparable. Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja had obtained the full mercy and blessings of Srinivasa acarya. Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja’s father’s name
By Giriraj Swami
Today is the disappearance day of Srila Jiva Gosvami, one of the Six Gosvamis of Vrndavana, direct disciples of Lord Chaitanya. Srila Prabhupada writes, “Srila Jiva Gosvami composed and edited at least twenty-five books. They are all very much celebrated . . . After the disappearance of Srila Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami in Vrndavana, Srila Jiva Gosvami became the acarya of all the Vaisnavas in Bengal, Orissa, and the rest of the world, and it is he who used to guide them
“Sri Jagadisa Pandita is the savior of the world. He distributes the nectar of love of Krsna just like a dense mass of dark clouds in the sky distributes rainfall.” [C.C. Adi 11.30]
Sri Jagadisa Bhatta took his birth in the region of Gauhati. His father’s name was Sri Kamalaksa Bhatta, who was the son of Bhatta Narayana, who hailed from Goyghar Bandyaghata. Both the mother and father of Jagadisa were very devoted Visnu-bhaktas. After his parents passed away he came with his wife to live on the
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten describes the branches of the tree named Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
TEXT 1
sri-caitanya-padambhoja-
madhupebhyo namo namah
kathancid asrayad yesam
svapi tad-gandha-bhag bhavet
TRANSLATION
Let me repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto the beelike devotees who always taste the honey of the lotus feet of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If even a doggish nondevotee somehow takes shelter of such devotees, he enjoys the aroma of the lotus flower.
PURPORT
“He who was previously a very munificent cowherd boy has now appeared as Mahesa Pandita. In ecstatic love, he dances like a madman as though intoxicated to the beat of a kettle drum. [C.C. Adi 11.32]
According to Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, Mahesa Pandita was formerly Maha-Bahusakha in Krsna-lila. He was a companion of Nityananda Prabhu, and was present at the Danda Mahotsava held at Paninati.
In Bhakti-Ratnakara, Taranga Nine, it is stated that when Narottama dasa Thakura came to visit Khardaha, h
There is so much to be said about Srimati Yamuna-devi dasi.
In October of 1970 I was one of a group of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples from America going to join him in India. On the way, we stopped in Brussels, and it was there, in an apartment, that I first met Yamuna-devi—and Malati and Syamasundara (I had met Gurudas before that, in Boston). Upon entering, I could immediately feel their intense, extraordinary devotion to Srila Prabhupada—it was so palpable, so tangible; the room was just suffu
Vraja’s Nāndimukhi became Sāraṅga Ṭhākura in Gaura-lila.
Śrī Saranga Ṭhākura is mentioned in the listing of branches of the Chaitanya trunk of the tree of devotional service along with Rama Das, Kavidatta, Gopal Das and Bhāgavata Acharya (Chaitanya Charitamrita 1.10.113). He is also known as Sarnga Ṭhākura, Sarngadhar and Sarngapani.
He used to live in Modadrumdvīpa, which is the island in Nabadvīpa that represents, of the nine types of devotional service, the service attitude. The name of the
Shri Narahari Sarkar Thakura was born at Shri Khanda. Shri Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami describes that the residents of Shri Khanda formed a branch of the desire tree of love of God. “Shri Khan davasi (the residents of Shri Khanda) Mukunda and his son Raghu nandan were the thirty ninth branch of the tree, Narahari was the fortieth, Chiran Jiva the forty first and Sulochana the forty second.
They were all big branches of the all merciful tree of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They distributed the fruits