Most Vaisnavas refer to Krishna as having appeared 5,000 years ago and generally credit Vedic civilization and Vaisnavism with great antiquity. But what hard, empirical proof do we have for this assertion?
This article is continuation of "Saraswati Prabhupada Parampara I" article that has been written to counteract the accusation that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada and his disciples and grand disciples are not in the Parampara of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura.
Some regard the ideal forms of sacred Vastu architecture as metaphors while others prefer to see them as fixed, eternal truths. In any case it is a fact that sacred architectural forms (as presented in the Vastu Shastra) have the ability to uplift the human consciousness from the mundane reality to the supernatural.
This time the attack against our parampara was coming from a young Indian scholar (once a member of ISKCON) who was representing the arguments and objections of the anti-party guru - an elderly Hindu scholar. As it turned out, in their opinion, not even Bhaktivinode Thakur is bona-fide, what then to speak of Saraswati Thakur and his followers
Ramanuja presented the living entities' relationship with Godhead as being one of eternal service. According to Ramanuja, when the living entities are freed from the illusions produced by the material energy by the method of devotion and natural love of God-like the dealings between an affectionate servant and his master—then the soul enters the spiritual sky known as Vaikuntha.
The letter 'A' denotes Balaram , the son of Rohini, who is the substratum of the entire universe, who is the supersoul of the universe. The letter 'M' denotes Anirudha, who is the supersoul of each individual being in the universe. And the 'dot' above the 'M' denotes Sri Krishna, the fountain head of all Vishnu incarnations.
His Divine Grace Sri Srila Bhakti Rakshaka Sridhara Deva Goswami Maharaja, the founder of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Matha, was born in India in 1895, in a respected Brahmana family of the Bhattacarya order, at Hapaniya, District Burdwan, West Bengal.
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.
Recently, we came across a discussion on the internet regarding sraddha - the importance of faith. Is it essential or only a necessity for the beginner? It is an area of siddhanta that is little understood by a vast majority of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas residing in western countries.
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.
If all of you have been following his teachings for 25-30 years and you are not qualified, then why should I follow his teachings? It must mean that his teachings have no potency. That is what the ritviks are actually saying.
One evening as we sat at Srila Puri Maharaja's lotus feet hearing about what it means to be a genuine Vaisnava, we were astounded when suddenly Srila Puri Maharaja said, "There is a wave of sahajiyaism coming to the Western world and you must preach against this misconception."