Nov 19

Princeton Bhakti Vedanta Institute Report – November 4, 2017

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The Nine Processes of Bhakti

excerpt –

“It is like there are two realities at the same time – the absolute and the
relative, so everything in this world is about relative because everything has
a beginning and an end and is not complete, but everything about bhaktiyoga
is absolute,” Rasaraja das Prabhu commented.

“Yes, I think that’s correct. An early Greek philosopher named Democratus,
famous for his theory of atomism, believed that by convention we name
something sweet or sour, but ultimately there are only atoms and void. In
the same way we can’t say how long a meter actually is yet everyone may
agree to accept a standard definition. But such a measurement is only
relative or judged according to the accepted convention,” Sripad Puri
Maharaja responded then said, “But what the absolute measure of length is,
they don’t know. They can only adopt some convention, then it becomes
relative to that accepted standard. So in a simple way we can say that
relative means what is man-made and absolute refers to what God made.”

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Nov 06

Princeton Bhakti Vedanta Institute Report – October 21, 2017

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Celebration of Sri Govardhana Puja
Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D.

“This pastime has an important relation to Krishna’s later
revolutionary teachings in the Bhagavad-gita (18.66) wherein He
explains that the system of dutiful sacrifice for fruitive results (karma
kanda) is to be renounced because worship of the Supreme Lord and
surrender unto Him is the path of highest perfection (sarva-dharman
parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
).” Sripad Puri Maharaja
concluded, “It also shows that even though there may be some fear in
adopting that mood, one should not be afraid because Krishna is
there to protect you (aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma
sucah
).”

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Oct 15

Princeton Bhakti Vedanta Institute Report – September 30, 2017

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The Role of Memory in Consciousness
by Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D.

“We were talking about the significance of memory,
from Plato to Saint Augustine and also to Krishna. Scientists and others
don’t really have a good understanding about the importance or
meaning of memory and how it affects us. Memory has a fundamental
influence in what we call consciousness. Generally when people speak
about consciousness they don’t know how it is related to memory.
Memory involves thought in a special way, as objectively existing in us.
Without memory we would not have the sense of continuity of ‘self’
that consciousness requires. It is memory that allows us to understand
things, without which we would just have stimuli, perceptions, blind
sensations without their unifying concepts. Some people may only
want different stimulations – they don’t want to think or put the pieces
together. They want to have one experience after another, mere sense
gratification, and that is sufficient, for them,” Sripad Puri Maharaja
continued. “But that is more like animal life. For the human form of
life, however, the cultivation of memory is very important for
understanding God as the source, unity or totality of everything.”

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Sep 04

Princeton Bhakti Vedanta Institute Report – August 19, 2017

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The Divine Appearance of Sri Krishna

excerpt –

After the wonderful kirtan Sripad Puri Maharaja began our Harikatha discussion on the topic of birth. “While Krishna is the janmadasya (source or cause of birth) of all conscious and unconscious beings, He also appears to take birth Himself to exhibit the divine nature of this miraculous event that occurs throughout nature. We understand that every individual cell has its own consciousness. When a mother gives birth to her children, each one of those children has an independent consciousness, so it’s possible that one consciousness can give rise to many other conscious entities, right? Within the womb of the mother the zygote or fertilized egg is also conscious but then when it divides, it gives rise to so many other cells. At first it divides into two, then into four, then eight, and so forth. It keeps multiplying in that way. Every time it doubles a consciousness appears in each of those multiples of itself, just as a candle flame can produce so many flames in the candles that are brought in touch with it. This ability to multiply is one of the amazing qualities of the soul and its associated consciousness. When the whole body is developed it’s made of many different cells and each one of those cell has its own consciousness,” Sripad Puri Maharaja explained. “One is more dominant than the other,” Rasaraja das Prabhu interjected. “Yes, one remains dominant,” Sripad Puri Maharaja confirmed then asked “Now how is that happening? Why is it so?”

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Aug 23

Princeton Bhakti Vedanta Institute Report – August 5, 2017

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Divine Appearance of Lord Balarama

excerpt –

“Like ‘acintyabhedaabhedatattva’ simultaneously one and different,” Nila
Madhava das Prabhu said. “The singular ‘I’ and the universal sense of
‘I’ represents a difference. In the universal sense of ‘I,’ we are all parts
of that universal ‘I,’ and that is true of all of us.” Sripad Puri Maharaja
said. “We are all connected with that but in the platform of mere
difference, we are not conscious of that universal truth of which we are
a part. Lord Balarama represents that difference that is also identical
with Krishna,” Sripad Puri Maharaja explained. “Balarama is Krishna
but is also different from Krishna. The temperament or sense of
difference without identity or connection with Krishna is called Ego.
From Balarama expands the Chatur Vyuha of which Sankarshan
becomes Shiva who is lord over the ignorance of the collective or
universal Ego.”

“In Aristotle’s philosophy thinking thinking itself is the absolute. We
think, we believe that we are the source of thinking but how do we
think? You do not even know how you lift your arm, right? So how do
you think? What do we do when we want to think? Doesn’t it just
happen – like digestion?” Sripad Puri Maharaja asked. Rasaraja das
responded, “We don’t make any effort to digest, it just occurs.”

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