Topic: Sadhana-tattva

I was recently invited to a program in Eugene, Oregon where it was said that the program would be in "vraja-bhava" so I was wondering how special is vraja-bhava and how does one actually attain it? When I went to the program there were various Hindi bhajans that I had never heard before and also some bhajans of Mirabai.

Is it true that to make advancement in Krsna consciousness one should hear from a rasika-acarya (a spiritual master advanced in relishing mellows of pure devotion) on the level of Viswanatha Cakravarthi Thakura?

What should be the highest aspiration of a Gaudiya Vaishnava? Should one aspire after the position of a manjari who can enter the groves of Vrindavana to serve Radha and Krsna? What should be our aspiration?

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructed Srila Sanatana Gosvami that a most essential element of Sadhana Bhakti is guru-padasraya — one must take shelter at the feet of a qualified guru. Without this shelter one's devotional activities will not lead to pure devotional service.

"O mind, I grasp your feet and beg you with sweet words: Please cast away all hypocrisy and develop intense, unprecedented love for my spiritual master, Vrajabhumi, the people of Vraja, the Vaisnavas, the brahmanas, the Gayatri mantra, the holy name, and the transcendental shelter that is the fresh young couple of Vraja, Radha and Krsna."

The innate principle of life is to save one's own self, to become immortal, to come out of ignorance, and to become happy. Our very existence is being threatened at every second here where we live; also, ignorance is threatening to cover our knowledge; and we are always being threatened to be swallowed by misery. These are our standing enemies, our born enemies which are constantly threatening us.

This song was composed by Guru Maharaja himself when we moved from the hired house in Calcutta (Bhaktivinoda Asana). The Deities were moved to a constructed matha (Bagh Bazaar Gaudiya Matha). The Deities were carried on a chariot and we were dancing and singing just in front of Them. At that time he composed some six lines perhaps.

Without the shelter of Sri Gurudeva, the so-called practice of Krsna consciousness is a mental concoction or simply mundane. Actual Krsna consciousness is situated in the supramental, supramundane plane and cannot be attained simply through our mental speculations. One becomes Krsna conscious via Krsna's grace received through the descending process-guru to disciple.

The imitator is like a woman who enters the maternity ward and simply by producing the sounds of labor thinks that she can produce a child. Many things are required before that.

‘Svaniyama Dvadasakam,’ composed in 1907, is the last work written by Bkaktivinoda Thakura before he took babaji-vesa and engaged in nirjana-bhajana. This composition is based upon the ten prayers of Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami entitled ‘Svaniyama Dasakam.’ The work of Bhaktivinoda Thakura is a daily meditation upon the things that are favourable and unfavourable for vraja-bhajana. The final verse gives the faithful reader the blessing of attaining Radha-Krsna in Vraja.

Question: I have heard people say that your guru, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, taught his disciples Vaidhi-bhakti, the path based on scriptural injunctions, and not Raganuga-Bhakti, the path of spontaneous love of God. Is that true?

Kirtan, book publishing, and thus distribution also have been accepted by Saraswati Thakura and other great acharyas as service in the line of raganuga (also rupanuga ). To write about the Lord is also kirtan and similarly to preach (to assert and convert others) is also kirtan (when our preaching is performed for the pleasure of Krishna and His pure devotees it is kirtan ).