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Paramahamsa Srila Gaura Kishore Das Babaji Maharaj was born into a vaishya family on the banks of the Padma River in Bagayan village in Faridpur district in what is now Bangladesh. His given name was Vamsi Das. He was born sometime in the middle of the nineteenth century. He is important to us because he was the diksha guru of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada. Vamsi Das’s parents had him married at an early age according to the custom of the time, but he always remained detache

By Giriraj Swami

Today is the disappearance day of Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji was a great devotee - a maha-bhagavata. He was a disciple of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and was very renounced. He had lived for many years in Vrindavan, roaming the twelve forests, chanting the holy names of Krishna, eating by begging alms, and sleeping under trees. Later, after Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura discovered Lord Chaitanya’s birthplace in Mayapur, Srila Jagannatha da

The disappearance day of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) allows us to meditate on his pastimes and his teachings. Srila Prabhupada had this to say about the disappearance of vaisnavas:

“As Lord Krishna’s appearance and disappearance are all spiritual, transcendental, they are not ordinary things, similarly Lord Krishna’s devotee, His representative, who is sent to this material world for preaching t

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Shri Krishna explains,

janma karma ca me divyam
evaà yo vetti tattvataù
tyaktvä dehaà punar janma
naiti mäm eti so ‘rjuna
[BG 4.9]

‘One who understands the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities never attains…never has to take birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode.’ Those divine personalities who come to distribute the treasure of prema bhakti, the emissaries of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, their lila is of the same natu

Today, November 17, 2023, is the Disappearance Day of Srila Prabhupada.

Abhay Charanarvinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1st Sept 1896 – 14th Nov 1977), was a devout Krishna Bhakta in the line of Gaudiya Vaishnava disciplic succession and a dedicated preacher of Krishna Consciousness all over the world. It was due to him that Hare Krishna and Bhagavad-Gita became a household name all over the world. According to the Hindu Calendar he left for the spiritual world on the fourth day of shukla p

“That night, Srila Prabhupada called me. I was attending Srila Prabhupada – actually one of us used to always be with Srila Prabhupada for two hours. My shift was 12am-2am. So it must have been around 1am. Srila Prabhupada called me, and told me: “The time has come for me to leave this planet, therefore you should make arrangement to take me to Vrindavan immediately.” He wanted to leave his body in Vrindavan. I was completely shocked, and immediately ran downstairs to wake up Tamal Krishna Ma

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!

It is only possible to deliver a conditioned jiva from Maya,

By divine intervention of God.

To a realm that is higher;

Ecstatically deep and broad.

An ocean of liquid love!

In His mercy, to bring us there,

He sent us Srila Prabhupada.

Sri Krsna Caitanya desired to moisten the dried-up souls.

To acheive it,

He not only comes Himself, But Nitai-Balarama empowered Srila Prabhupada,

To bountiful conceive it.

A world encircling garland of prema-nama-sankirtana!

All G

Note: Click here for improved version: http://www.dandavats.com/wp-content/uploads/new_SP_Disap_2008.docx

By Giriraj Swami

We have gathered at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada on the auspicious occasion of his disappearance festival. When we were with His Divine Grace in Surat on his guru maharaja’s disappearance day, he remarked that on the absolute platform there is no difference between the appearance and disappearance of the spiritual master—just like the sunrise and sunset, both are beau

By Ramai Swami

Sri Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami was born in a Nadiya family of physicians at the village of Jhamatpur, within the district of Barddhaman, near Naihati. His father was Sri Bhagiratha, and his mother was Sri Sunanda. He had a younger brother named Syama das.

The deity of Gaura-Nityananda installed by Sri Kaviraja Gosvamis is still being worshiped there. It appears that his family line is no more. More information about the early life of Sri Kaviraja is available in a book called Anan

Today is the auspicious disappearance day of three great acharyas in the Gaudiya-Vaishnava sampradaya: Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, and Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami. We shall read about Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami from Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja’s Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Chapter Thirteen: “Pastimes with Jagadananda Pandita and Raghunatha Bhatta.”

TEXT 89

etha tapana-misra-putra raghunatha-bhattacarya
prabhure de

In around 1503 AD, Raghunath Bhattacharya appeared as the son of Tapana Mishra, a dear devotee of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who hailed from the village of Ramapura on the banks of the Padma River in East Bengal.

Mahaprabhu first met Tapana Mishra when he went to East Bengal during his career as a teacher of Sanskrit. Tapana Mishra had studied many scriptures but was still bewildered about the purpose of life and what to do to attain it. He had a dream in which he was instructed by a Brahmin to go

Today is the divine disappearance day of Namacharya Haridasa Thakura. So we shall read from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Chapter Eleven: “The Passing of Haridasa Thakura.”

INTRODUCTION

The summary of this chapter is given by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Amrta-pravaha-bhasya as follows. In this chapter it is described how Brahma Haridasa Thakura gave up his body with the consent of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and how the Lord Himself personally performed the funeral ceremony and carried

Sri Haridas Thakur is an eternally liberated associate of the Lord. The associates of the Lord are worship-able wherever they make their appearance.

Just as Garuda appeared as a bird, and Hanuman as a monkey, Haridas Thakur appeared in a family of Yavanas. From his very birth he was very deeply devoted to the Holy Names of Sri Krsna and later became known as “Nama Acarya.”

When Lord Caitanya went to Jagannatha Puri, Haridas also went and took up residence there. Everyday, after attending Lord

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

One day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu met Haridasa Thakura as usual, and in the course of discussion He inquired as follows.’My dear Thakura Haridasa, in this age of Kali most people are bereft of Vedic culture, and therefore they are called yavanas. They are concerned only with killing cows and brahminical culture. In this way they all engage in sinful acts. How will these yavanas be delivered? To My great unhappiness, I do not see any way. His

Srila Sanatana Gosvami, one of the intimate associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, is a well-known personality in Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Mahaprabhu taught the sequence of advancement in devotional service through Sanatana Goswami.

Sanatana Goswami was the oldest and most venerable among the six Goswamis. He propagated the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Sanatana Goswami appeared in 1488 AD and lived for 70 years. He spent 27 years in household life and 43 years in Vrindavan as a renunci

By Payonidhi Das

Prema vilasa about the disappearance of Srila Sanatana Goswami and how Srila Rupa Goswami was very much affected by his divine disappearance.

Srila Narrotama das Thakura has sung:

kaha mora svarupa-rupa, kaha sanatana
kaha dasa raghunatha patita-pavana (2)

2) Where are my Svarupa Damodara and Rupa Gosvami? Where is Sanatana? Where is Raghunatha Dasa, the savior of the fallen?

vairagya-yug-bhakti-rasam prayatnair
apayayan mam anabhipsum andham
kapambudhir yah para-duhkha-duhkhi

Sri Sanatana Gosvami appeared in 1488, five years before Sri Rupa Gosvami, in a Sarasvata brahmana family in Bengal. Sanatana and his two brothers, Rupa and Anupama, were always absorbed in bhava bhakti from early childhood. Remembering Vrndavana, they named the forests in which they played after Vraja’s twelve forests (Talavana, Madhuvana, Kamyavana, Mahavana). They called their favorite bathing ponds Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda.

In his youth, Sri Sanatana dreamt that a beautiful brahmana boy

Today is an eventful day. Ganga Dusshera or Ganga puja, celebrates the descent of mother Ganga on this earth. Devotees take holy dip in Ganges, offer worship, remember and glorify mother Ganga on this day. It is also the appearance day of Srimati Ganga mata Goswamini.

“Anyone who bathes in Ganga, touches the Ganga, drinks Ganga, sees Ganga or anyone who is touched by a breeze that has come from the Ganga will get Krsna Prema – love for Krsna”.

Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana Disappearance:

Sri Balade

We shall discuss the conversation between Sri Ramananda Raya and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, ramananda-samvada, recorded in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter Eight: “Talks Between Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya.”

TEXT 1

sancarya ramabhidha-bhakta-meghe
  sva-bhakti-siddhanta-cayamrtani
gaurabdhir etair amuna vitirnais
  taj-jnatva-ratnalayatam prayati

TRANSLATION

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is known as Gauranga, is the ocean of all conclusive knowledge in devotional servi

Five hundred years ago in the district of Puri, in the village of Bentapur adjacent to Brahmagiri Alalanatha, there lived a great devotee named Bhavananda Raya.

Bhavananda had five sons, the eldest of which was Ramananda. Descendants of this family-line are known as Choudhurya Pattanayaka. It is said that Lord Caitanya visited the birth-place of Ramananda in Alalanatha every year.

Ramananda was the Governor of East and West Godavari and a minister of King Prataparudra.
A great statesman of that