January 2, 2013 Sadhu-Sanga — Sripad Bhakti Vijnana Muni Maharaja read from Srimad Bhagavatam

Topic: Receiving Perfect Knowledge

Here is the recording of the January 2, 2013 sadhu-sanga.

• The devotee always thinks of himself as the instrument of the Lord for anything successfully carried out, and he declines to take credit for anything done by himself. The godless atheist wants to take all credit for activities, not knowing that even a blade of grass cannot move without the sanction of the Supreme Spirit, the Personality of Godhead.
• The Lord is Himself the father of Vedic knowledge, and it is He only who knows the factual purport of the Vedantic philosophy. The source of all truths is the Supreme Spirit, and not gross matter as wrongly conceived by the materialist. The sixteen principal creative elements, namely earth, water, fire, air, sky, and the eleven sense organs, first developed from the Lord Himself and were thereby shared by the living entities. Without Vedic knowledge, or perfect, infallible knowledge, no one can create anything.
• There is no mundane difference between profound philosophical discourses about the Lord and the romantic encounters of the Lord and the gopis. Imitation devotees, like the Sahajiyas, believe that the preliminary discussions found in the first nine cantos of the Srimad Bhagavatam are to be neglected as peripheral to the “nugget” of the tenth canto. Factually however, the entire Bhagavatam is non-different from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and his most intimate pastimes.
• The world is a creation of Atma, the Supreme Consciousness, which is present in all phases of the universe. The scriptures have been written to remind those who have forgotten this reality. Socrates also had this idea — that knowledge is not something that is new; it is something that is recollected, something brought back to memory.
• As soon as Brahma was born of the abdominal lotus flower of Visnu, he was impregnated with Vedic knowledge, and therefore he is known as veda-garbha, or a Vedantist from the embryo. Without Vedic knowledge, or perfect, infallible knowledge, no one can create anything. There is no use in the mundane system of theoretical knowledge. For example, the Big Bang Theory is so full of flaws that the scientific community is now being forced to question it. The Vedic seers recognized this epistemological problem and have concluded that knowledge must be revealed by the perfect knower via the parampara.
• The inquisitive student must approach a qualified spiritual master to receive transcendental knowledge by surrender, submissive inquiries and service. Knowledge received in this way transforms one’s life, so it is more effective than knowledge received in exchange for money. Sripad Puri Maharaja explains that the spiritual master does not charge anything for that which he himself has received by grace. One cannot sell something for which one has no title. Such acts of giving and reciprocation are necessary components of the proper spiritual realization.
• Maharaja closes by expanding on the process of receiving perfect knowledge via the parampara versus trying to create something new. Because we are finite beings, such knowledge becomes available according the quality of our surrender and devotion, and according to the will of the Lord. Furthermore, the ultimate realization is not some form of monism, or Vasudeva consciousness. The highest relish comes from understanding the variegated relationships that exist in the spiritual realm.

February 6, 2013 Sadhu-Sanga — Sripad Bhakti Vijnana Muni Maharaja read from Srimad Bhagavatam

Topic: Lord Brahma answers Narada’s question

Here is the recording of the February 6, 2013 sadhu-sanga.

• From the Personality of Godhead, all the universal globes and the universal form with all material elements, qualities and senses are generated. However, like the sun, which is separate from its rays and heat, the Lord stands aloof from such material manifestations. Simultaneously personal and impersonal by His inconceivable potency, He displays complete unity in a diversity of material and spiritual manifestations.
• Brahma, the original living being within the material world, taught us the way of sacrifice. “Sacrifice” suggests dedication of one’s own interests for satisfaction of a second person. Perfection of such sacrifices is attained when they are performed for the sake of the Supreme Person, Lord Krsna. However, to perform a sacrifice successfully, at least four expert priests are needed. Since such expert priests are very rare in this age of corruption and quarrel, only the yajna of chanting the Holy Name of the Lord is recommended.
• The One is Lord Vasudeva. By His different energies and expansions the different manifestations are maintained, both in the material and in the spiritual worlds. Thus, the conception of oneness is accepted by the devotee of the Lord. However, whereas the impersonalist denies personality in the ultimate issue, the devotee gives more importance to the Personality of Godhead.
• The Lord is omnipotent by three energies — internal, marginal and external. The external energy is displayed in the three modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. The internal potency is displayed in three spiritual modes — samvit (knowledge), sandhini (existence) and hladini (pleasure). The marginal energy, consisting of the living entities, is also spiritual, yet the living entities are never equal to the Lord.
• Everything, either permanent or temporary, is working as cause and effect. Because the Lord is the primeval cause of all persons and all energies, He is called the cause of all causes. Even the impersonal spiritual effulgence, the brahmajyoti, is an effect of Lord Krsna.
• Lord Brahma declares that because he has caught hold of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of God, what He has said has never proven to be false. From time immemorial, such transcendental knowledge is being distributed all over the world by the process of disciplic succession. On the other hand, Lord Brahma declares in the very next sloka, that despite His vast learning, austerity, penance, mystic powers and self-realization, even He cannot understand the Supreme Lord. Only the devotee, solely by dint of his service mood (bhaktya), can gradually come to know the personality of Godhead.
• Lord Brahma thus advises us to surrender unto the lotus feet of the Lord in order to achieve all success, even up to the limit of being liberated from the miseries of material life and being endowed with all-auspicious spiritual existence. Anyone who denies this surrendering process will be forced to surrender unto the laws of material nature. Only those persons with a very poor fund of knowledge claim that they themselves are lords of all that they survey.
• The end of all suffering means surrendering unto the Lord because the surrendering process itself is bhava-cchidam (liberation from all material miseries), svasty-ayanam (perception of all happiness), and sumangalam (the source of everything auspicious).

February 2, 2013 Sadhu-Sanga — Sripad Bhakti Niskama Shanta Maharaja read from Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita.

Topic: Lord Chaitanya bestows His mercy

Here is the recording of the February 2, 2013 sadhu-sanga.

• The next day, Raghunatha dasa inquired at the lotus feet of Svarupa Damodara about his duty. Svarupa Damodara Gosvami submitted to Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Raghunatha dasa’s inquiry.
• Smiling, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu told Raghunatha dasa, I have already appointed Svarupa Damodara Gosvami as your instructor. Nevertheless, if you want to take instructions from Me with faith and love, you may ascertain your duties from the following words. “Do not talk like people in general or hear what they say. You should not eat very palatable food, nor should you dress very nicely. Do not expect honor, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the holy name of Lord Krsna, and within your mind render service to Radha and Krsna in Vrndavana.”
• At this time, all the devotees from Bengal arrived, and, as previously, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu met them with great feeling.
• Raghunatha dasa met all the devotees including Sivananda Sena, who informed him that his father wrote a letter asking to send him back home but when they received no information about you, they returned home from Jhankara after staying at Jagannatha Puri for four months. Raghunatha dasa’s father inquired from Sivananda Sena, if he had seen Raghunatha dasa at the residence of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu? Sivananda Sena replied that Raghunatha dasa is with the Lord who has placed him under the care of Svarupa Damodara.
• Sivananda Sena also said that Raghunatha dasa’s life has become just like the life of all the Lord’s devotees. He chants the Hare Krsna maha-mantra all day and night and never gives up the shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is living in the order of renounced life. He does not care about eating or dressing and stands at the Simha-dvara gate to beg some alms to eat. Hearing the description of Raghunatha dasa’s behavior, his parents were very unhappy and decided to send some servants with goods and coins for his comfort.
• The servants brought four hundred coins to Jagannatha Puri but Raghunatha dasa did not accept the money and the servants. Therefore a brahmana and one of the servants stayed there with the money.
• At that time, Raghunatha dasa began inviting Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to his house with great attention for two days every month for two years but at the end of the second year he stopped after realizing that “At my request the Lord accepts the invitations because He knows that a foolish person like me would be unhappy if He did not accept them.”
• When Raghunatha dasa neglected to invite the Lord for two consecutive months, the Lord questioned Svarupa Damodara as to why Raghunatha dasa has stopped inviting Him. Contemplating the various reasons, Svarupa Damodara replied, “He must have reconsidered something in his mind.” Hearing this, the Lord smiled and said, “because of Raghunatha dasa’s eagerness, I accepted his invitation for many days. It is very good that Raghunatha dasa has now automatically given up this practice.”
• After some days, Raghunatha dasa gave up standing near the Simha-dvara gate and instead began eating by begging alms from a booth for free distribution of food.
• When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard this news from Govinda, He inquired from Svarupa Damodara, “Why does Raghunatha dasa no longer stand at the Simha-dvara gate to beg alms?” Svarupa Damodara replied, “Raghunatha dasa felt unhappy standing at the Simha-dvara. Therefore he is now going at midday to beg alms from the charity booth.”
• Hearing this news, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu bestowed His mercy upon Raghunatha dasa by giving him a stone from Govardhana Hill and a garland of small conch shells that was gifted to Him by Sankarananda Sarasvati.
• Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructed Raghunatha dasa, “This stone is the transcendental form of Lord Krsna. Worship the stone with great eagerness.”

January 30, 2013 Sadhu-Sanga — Sripad Bhakti Vijnana Muni Maharaja read from Srimad Bhagavatam

Topic: The Greatness of the Supreme Lord

Here is the recording of the January 30, 2013 sadhu-sanga.

• The opulences of the virat-rupa are described. In the material world, activities of the living entities are contaminated by the three modes of material nature, whereas in the spiritual world they are all pure because they are engaged in the unalloyed transcendental loving service of the Lord.
• Every living entity is engaged in some sort of service whether for self, family, or country. All such services are rendered useless due to selfish material attachment. Fortunately, attachments may be directed to the service of the Lord and His devotees. Liberation is easily attained and surpassed via devotional service to the Lord, while other methods of salvation are very difficult because one who is impersonally attached is subjected to all kinds of tribulations.
• There are many powerful world leaders and many more powerful demigods. All of them are different powerful parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. If all living beings accept Sri Krishna as the origin of their specific powers, then simply by discharging their respective duties they can achieve the highest perfection of life. However, as long as such men do not accept the origination of their powers from the all-powerful Lord, their false sense of ego results in a hard struggle for existence. Simply by accepting the Lord as the supreme proprietor, one can achieve the highest perfection of life.
• We must take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. No one should be inclined to seek the help of the demigods because they are all dependent on Him only. Even the all-pervading Supersoul is a dependent expansion of the supreme Lord, Bhagavan, the Personality of Godhead.
• The genitals and the pleasure of begetting counteract the distresses of family encumbrances. There is a pleasure-giving substance that is not false, because it originates from the transcendental body of the Lord. However, in the material world, sex life is the cause of many distresses and should not be encouraged beyond what is necessary within prescribed religious principles.
• The perfect description of the Lord holds that He is both impersonal and personal simultaneously. The Personality of Godhead is the original feature of the Lord, from which His impersonal energy emanates as the reflection of His transcendental body.
• According to human calculation one day of Brahma is equal to one thousand ages of four millenniums (4,300,000 years) each. The same period is calculated to be his night also. During the night of Brahma, the universe is withdrawn, with the living entities taking repose, along with the great oceans, in the belly of the virat-purusha. At the end of Brahma’s night, the creation is again manifested and the living entities are let loose to play their respective parts. The living entities are never destroyed, but continue to accept one material body after another. Human life is meant for making a solution to this repeated change of bodies, thus attaining a place in the spiritual sky, where everything is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge.
• The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His partial representation, measuring not more than nine inches as Supersoul, expands by His own energy in the shape of the universal form, which includes everything manifest in different varieties of organic and inorganic forms. Yet, the Supreme Lord remains the supreme absolute entity, distinct from all manifested forms. Lord Chaitanya’s followers call this  philosophical siddhanta, acintya-bhedabheda-tattva.
• The universal form of the Lord is a secondary imagination of the impersonal form of the Lord, but the primary form of the Lord is Syamasundara, with two hands, playing on His eternal flute. Seventy-five percent of the expansive effulgence of the Lord is manifested in the spiritual sky as His completely transcendental internal potency (tripad-vibhuti). The remaining twenty-five percent of His personal effulgence is called His external energy (pada-vibhuti) from which the material worlds are constituted. From this, we can conclude that the number of liberated souls are far more numerous than the conditioned souls.
• The greatness of the Supreme Lord is so extensive that it cannot be imagined even by the great brahmacharis or sannyasis. Yet, such spiritual happiness is factually attained by the unalloyed devotees of the Lord, by His divine grace, which appears in the form of Gurudeva. 
• The spiritual world, which consists of three fourths of the Lord’s energy, is situated beyond this material world, and it is especially meant for those who will never be reborn. Others, who are attached to family life and who do not strictly follow celibacy vows, must live within the three planetary divisions (bhur, bhuvar, svar) of the material world.
• Sripad Muni Maharaja and Sripad Puri Maharaja answer a question concerning the meaning of the spiritual gems (cintamani) and the desire trees that are mentioned in the Brahma-Samhita.