· Visnu and Krsna bhakti

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Please accept my humble obeisances!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

Dear devotees,

 

Presentation of vedic knowledge is very context sensitive and not so

systematic as westerners may encounter during their schooling. Therefore we

need to develop faith in person who can give the right conclusion to us.

 

I find here some interesting quotes, but what do they mean to me? Who should

I approach to find their relevance in my life?

 

My conviction is that a faithfull devotee who is well versed in sastra and

who knows me, he will be able to tell me the right understanding of these

quotes, but if I would try to prematurely give the right conclusion myself,

I would possibly be lost or my faith would not be very strong in the

conlusion.

 

See first five paragraphs of chapter 3 of Nectar of Devotion. "The

neophyte's faith can be changed by someone else with strong arguments or by

an opposite decision."

 

"Those who are too engrossed in sense gratification cannot be allowed to

participate in arcana or to touch the transcendental form of the Radha-Krsna

or Visnu Deities. For them it is better to meditate upon the gigantic

virat-rupa of the Lord, as recommended in the next verse. The impersonalists

and the voidists are therefore recommended to meditate upon the universal

form of the Lord, whereas the devotees are recommended to meditate on the

Deity worship in the temple. Because the impersonalists and the voidists are

not sufficiently purified in their spiritual activities, arcana is not meant

for them."

SB 2.2.13

 

"Especially for the householder devotees, the path of Deity worship is

strongly recommended. As far as possible, every householder, by the

direction of the spiritual master, must install the Deity of Visnu, forms

like Radha-Krsna, Laksmi-Narayana or Sita-Rama especially, or any other form

of the Lord, like Nrsimha, Varaha, Gaura-Nitai, Matsya, Kurma,

salagrama-sila and many other forms of Visnu, like Trivikrama, Kesava,

Acyuta, Vasudeva, Narayana and Damodara, as recommended in the

Vaisnava-tantras or Puranas, and one's family should worship strictly

following the directions and regulations of arcana-vidhi."

SB 2.3.22

 

"The whole process can be summarized as follows: The advanced devotee who

chants the holy name of the Lord in a perfectly offenseless manner and is

friendly to everyone can actually relish the transcendental taste of

glorifying the Lord. And the result of such realization is reflected in the

cessation of all material desires, etc., as mentioned above. The neophytes,

due to their being in the lower stage of devotional service, are invariably

envious, so much so that they invent their own ways and means of devotional

regulations without following the acaryas. As such, even if they make a show

of constantly chanting the holy name of the Lord, they cannot relish the

transcendental taste of the holy name. Therefore, the show of tears in the

eyes, trembling, perspiration or unconsciousness, etc., is condemned. They

can, however, get in touch with a pure devotee of the Lord and rectify their

bad habits; otherwise they shall continue to be stonehearted and unfit for

any treatment. A complete progressive march on the return path home, back to

Godhead, will depend on the instructions of the revealed scriptures directed

by a realized devotee."

SB 2.3.24

 

"The Lord's pastimes in the internal potency are displayed in His activities

in Vrndavana, but His external potential works are directed in His features

of Karanarnavasayi Visnu, Garbhodakasaya Visnu and Ksirodakassya Visnu.

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti offers his good counsel to the interested

Vaisnavas when he says that they should not be interested in hearing only

about the Lord's activities (like rasa-lila), but must be keenly interested

in His pastimes in His features of the purusavataras in connection with

srsti-tattva, creational functions, following the examples of Maharaja

Pariksit, the ideal disciple, and Sukadeva Gosvami, the ideal spiritual

master."

SB 2.4.10

 

"The prakrta-sahajiyas who chant nitai-gaura radhe syama have very little

knowledge of the Bhagavata conclusion, and they hardly follow the Vaisnava

rules and regulations, and yet because they chant bhaja nitai-gaura, their

chanting immediately evokes tears and other signs of ecstasy. Although they

do not know the principles of Vaisnava philosophy and are not very much

advanced in education, by these symptoms they attract many men to become

their followers. Their ecstatic tears will of course help them in the long

run, for as soon as they come in contact with a pure devotee their lives

will become successful. Even in the beginning, however, because they are

chanting the holy names of nitai-gaura, their swift advancement on the path

of love of Godhead is very prominently visible."

CC Adilila 8.22

 

"For an ordinary man, worship of Sri Caitanya and Nityananda Prabhu or the

Panca-tattva is easier than worship of Radha and Krsna. Unless one is very

fortunate, he should not be induced to worship Radha-Krsna directly. A

neophyte student who is not sufficiently educated or enlightened should not

indulge in the worship of Sri Radha and Krsna or the chanting of the Hare

Krsna mantra. Even if he does so, he cannot get the desired result. One

should therefore chant the names of Nitai-Gaura and worship Them without

false prestige. Since everyone within this material world is more or less

influenced by sinful activities, in the beginning it is essential that one

take to the worship of Guru-Gauranga and ask their favor, for thus despite

all his disqualifications one will very soon become qualified to worship the

Radha-Krnsa vigraha.

It should be noted in this connection that the holy names of Lord Krsna and

Gaurasundara are both identical with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Therefore one should not consider one name to be more potent than the other.

Considering the position of the people of this age, however, the chanting of

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's name is more essential than the chanting of the

Hare Krsna maha-mantra because Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the most

magnanimous incarnation and His mercy is very easily achieved. Therefore one

must first take shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by chanting

sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara

srrvasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda. By serving Gaura-Nityananda one is freed from

the entanglements of material existence and thus becomes qualified to

worship the Radha-Krsna Deity."

CC Adilila 8.31

 

And finally following statements from Introduction to Nectar of Devotion

(NoD) and Waves of Devotion (WoD) by Dhanurdhara Swami:

 

WoD:

"The conclusion: Krsna is the singular target of pure devotion. As a result

of this one-pointed love for Krsna, one loves everything directly connected

to Him."

 

NoD: "Krsna, in other words, means everything and includes everything."

...."Generally, however, we should understand 'Krsna' to mean Krsna and His

personal expansions... So Krsna includes all such expansions, as well as His

pure devotees." (WoD: Two paragraphs later, Srila Prabhupada also includes

Krsna's parapharnalia and His transcendental abode as bona fide objects of

the pure devotee's pure loving affection.)

 

your servant Madhupuri das