Topic: Vaisnava-tattva

One cannot get bhāva-bhakti or prema-bhakti by mere sādhana (practice). What you get is pure devotion. You can become a pure devotee by sādhana bhakti. But many times it is confused that pure devotion and prema (love) are synonymous. Before you get love of Kṛṣṇa, you have to be pure. You have to become a pure devotee.

By the mercy of the sādhus, it is possible to instantly absorb their inner mood and character, which purifies our prior understanding putting it in proper perspective in relation to Kṛṣṇa. The devotional mood of the sādhu is a storehouse of perfect philosophical conclusions that anyone can benefit from.

To surrender to Kṛṣṇa directly, to surrender to the Holy Name, that is very difficult, almost impossible and not very pleasing to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has no necessity of that. However, there is a necessity to serve a Vaiṣṇava, to serve the representatives, Kṛṣṇa’s intimate devotees. That is an indispensable part of surrender.

Morality stands upon only this conception — this is mine, this is yours. But all this is false. The deepest plane of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is moving and with it so many particles and so many jivas are dancing. And that dance is the absolute dance. Sarva dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. So everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa and for His satisfaction anything and everything can be done. That is nirguṇa.

Vaishnavas might be householders or renunciants, but in vaiṣhṇava-seva, it is not merely the devotee’s ashrama that commands respect. Rather, gradation among Vaiṣhṇavas is gauged according to their advancement in bhakti.

For the holy name to take effect, in the Garuḍa Purāṇa, ten offences to the holy name are listed that must be avoided. One should simply avoid them. It is not difficult. One or two take a little more practice than the others. The last one is the biggest hangup. The first one is the worst of all, but it is very easy to avoid that. So these are the ten offences to be avoided while chanting of the holy name.

All glories! All glories! to Śrīla Gurudeva, whose name is Śrī Bhaktigaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja. O Ācārya, I pay my respects unto your lotus feet. You are an ocean of mercy, and purifier of the fallen souls. As a liberal distributor of the love of Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya, you are surely the very life of Śrī Mādhava. Your character is forthright and an abode of all divine qualities. Just by seeing you everyone is inspired to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.

Most of us generally learn the basics of spiritual activities and conceptions from the older disciples of the Guru. Therein exists a hierarchy based on experience and realization. At some point direct association and possibly personal training comes from the Guru himself, but this actually turns out to be quite rare. To consider one's older god-brothers and god-sisters as śīkṣa-gurus in the living time of the Ācārya is the natural course one follows in spiritual life.

Initiation is a noble prospect that you are put in connection with. But so much will have to come from our side, the disciple, in order to progress.

Śrīla Prabhupāda has written that, “Satisfaction of the self realized spiritual master is the secret of success in spiritual life.” In essence, this refers to service that is known to be what the spiritual master desires, wherever and whenever it is performed.

Swami Sadananda was the first western adherent to Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy in the 20th century. He traveled to India and became an initiated disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati.