Only the pure devotee can deliver Lord Krsna to another devotee. Bhakti (devotion) comes from Bhakta (devotee). Thus, a true devotee never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants.
The symptoms of a progressive change-of-heart resulting from devotional service are a gradual detachment from the sense of material enjoyment and an increase in the attitude of rendering loving service to the Lord.
To become a pure devotee, two things are very much essential, namely to have the chance of being born in the family of a devotee and having the blessing of a bonafide spiritual master.
To become liberated means to become free from the illusory attachment for everything connected with the false identity — physical body, wife, children and all other material entanglements.
All fruitive activities are to be given up in pure devotional service — religiosity, economic development and sense gratification. Sripad Puri Maharaja further clarifies the difference between religiosity and spontaneous service to the Lord — pure devotion.
Our philosophy is not based on rules and regulations. It is not necessary for people to immediately adopt the “Four Regulative Principles” to engage in devotional service. Sripad Puri Maharaja recounts the story of the butcher who used salagrama silas to measure the weight of meat. Despite his seemingly obvious transgression, the Lord was pleased with him, so he was counted as a devotee of the Lord.
Sripad Puri Maharaja briefly discusses aspects of the philosophy of consciousness and explains the defects in the concepts of the mayavadi and Berkley’s philosophy.
November 17, 2012 Sadhu-Sanga — Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja recounted his personal connection with the glorious pastimes of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the origins of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, and the role of service to one’s spiritual master.
Here is the recording of the November 17, 2012 sadhu-sanga.
Sripad Puri Maharaja began by reciting a verse written by Srila Govinda Maharaja which glorified Srila Prabhupada as the saktyavesa-avatar of Nityananda Prabhu personified.Sripad Puri Maharaja began by reciting a verse written by Srila Govinda Maharaja which glorified Srila Prabhupada as the saktyavesa-avatar of Nityananda Prabhu personified.
The very close relationships between Srila Prabhupada, Srila Sridhar Maharaja and Srila Govinda Maharaja are discussed. It was Srila Sridhar Maharaja who first perceived that Srila Prabhupada was a saktyavesa-avatar.
Sripad Puri Maharaja recounts how Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Thakura initially told Srila Prabhupada not to live in the temples, where he would be engaged in management, so that he could preach and maintain his good connections on the outside. Ultimately, it was through such contacts that Srila Prabhupada would be able to bring his message to the western world.
Sripad Puri Maharaja discusses how Srila Prabhupada began his mission in New York City with the establishment of ISKCON in 1966, which he then subsequently spread throughout the entire world in the short span of ten years.
Several years after ISKCON was established, Sripad Swarupa Damodara joined the mission and became initiated in 1971. This story is recounted in the Bhagavata Servarpanam website. At about the same time, Sripad Puri Maharaja and Sadaputa Prabhu also joined. In 1976, the Bhaktivedanta Institute was officially established to carry the preaching effort to the scientific community. Shortly after this, Srila Prabhupada disappeared from this world.
Within a short time after Prabhupada’s disappearance, Sripad Damodara Maharaja and Sripad Puri Maharaja became separated. Sripad Damodara Maharaja continued with his preaching all over the world, while Sripad Puri Maharaja began to preach over the internet, introducing many people to Hegel whose philosophy captures the essence of our siddhanta. Through this effort, Hegel became more widely known in the US.
Sripad Puri Maharaja explains how spontaneous service can overcome the severe pain of separation from one’s spiritual master.
Srila Prabhupada taught that there are three bhagavans — Lord Krsna, the Srimad Bhagavatam, and the devotee of the Lord (maha-bhagavat.) These three comprise the stimulus for our devotional service.
Sripad Puri Maharaja recounts how Srila Prabhupada once remarked how much he enjoyed reading his own books because it was Krsna who was writing his books through him.
The sanga then concludes with a discussion of the progression of our preaching work and the specific mission of the Princeton office which is specifically intended for preaching to the educated portion of society.
November 14, 2012 — Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja read from several sources to explore the significance of Govardhan Hill and it’s special relationship to the SCS Math in Navadvipa.
Here is the recording of the November 14, 2012 sadhu-sanga.
Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja explained Srila Sridhar Maharaja’s revelation about the very gist and substance of Govardhan lila as represented in the Srimad Bhagavatam verse 10.26.10
Here the Highest Truth takes the humble position of a cowherd boy, a mild and soft conception of God — Reality the beautiful.
In this Pastime, the retributive egoism of Indradeva, as a kingly personality, is not overcome by confronting and rebuking him, but by the endearing sweetness of Krishna’s playful pastimes as compassionate protector of his beloved devotees. And Indra, himself, is not excluded from that circle.
This perfectly captures the sublime mood and nature that characterized Srila Sridhar Maharaja’s own realizations, realizations that attracted so many fortunate souls to him.
Without a service connection to the authentic representative of that conception, only divisiveness can result within the reactionary plane of egoistic existence. The hypocrisy, quarrel and bitter strife of Kali increases, rather than being ameliorated by the harmonizing influence that descends from the Department of Divine mercy and compassion.
Corrupted by the egoism of considering oneself a vaishnava, one falls victim to such lower existence.
Govardhan Hill is non-different from Krishna, even though it appears in the pose of santa rasa as a mountain. Furthermore, it’s hidden caves and bowers are the locus of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna’s loving pastimes.
Govardhan sila is also non-different from Krishna, because, even as an apparent finite part of the infinite, it is also infinite.
Srila Govinda Maharaja has marked the essence of Srila Saraswati Thakura’s teachings of how to properly perform the raga marg worship of Govardhan by the sankirtan of the Holy Names, and represented that in a diorama and sloka placed front and center of the nath mandir in Sri Dham Koladvip, which is Gupta Govardhan — hidden Govardhan.
The prayers of Srila Govinda Maharaja to Sri Govinda Kund at the foot of Gupta Govardhan, and of Srila Das Goswami to Giri Govardhan were then read in glorification of this hidden treasure of the exalted yet unassuming holy festival of Sri Govardhan Puja.
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains that, “…life is not meant for so-called economic development or advancement of materialistic science for the hedonistic philosophy of eating, mating, drinking and merrymaking. Life is solely meant for tapasya (penance), for purifying existence so that one may enter into eternal life just after the end of human life.” Brahma creates the whole material world through tapa.
In Srimad Bhagavatam the materialistic and atheistic lives of modern man are compared with the lives of dogs, hogs, camels and asses. The senses are considered to be impure as long as they are employed for the purpose of sense gratification, and not used in the service of the Lord.
The relationship of service between the spiritual master and disciple is not only theoretical but also practical, requiring the full engagement of one’s self, body, mind and intelligence.
Even though one is consumed by the demands of material life, it is still essential to render devotional service to the Lord.
The importance of deity worship is briefly discussed. One who cannot maintain an altar at home may attend the temple for worship. The raga-marga mood of spontaneous worship of the Deity is characterized by more simple, but sublime devotional practices.
Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja discusses the importance of humility — simple living, high thinking. Greatness may be couched in humility, but on occasion, for the service of the Lord, humility may also be couched in greatness.