"In the land of Nadiya, on the island of Godruma, the magnanimous Lord Nityananda has opened up the Marketplace of the Holy Name, meant for the deliverance of all fallen souls”
There is not a Hindu who has not heard the name of this temple. The old and the young, the male and the female, the Rajah and the ryot, and the weak and the stout, all visit this temple out of a religious curiosity.
The following is an excerpt from a lecture given by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura at his last manifest Vyasa puja celebration February 6th, 1936. Vyasa puja is the day traditionally set aside to honor the spiritual master.
We love to read a book which we never read before. We are anxious to gather whatever information is contained in it and with such acquirement our curiosity stops. This mode of study prevails amongst a great number of readers, who are great men in their own estimation as well as in the estimation of those who are of their own stamp. In fact, most readers are mere repositories of facts and statements made by other people. But this is not study.
It is stated in Our Original Position, Chapter eight that Srimati Radharani cursed Her dear maidservant Vrinda Devi to fall down to material existance and that this is factual evidence that the jiva soul falls from the Lords eternal lila.
"The constitutional position of the jiva is that of an eternal servant of Krishna. The jiva belongs to the marginal potency of Krishna and as such the jiva is considered a manifestation simultaneously one and different from Krishna."
O Divine Master of my Divine Master, my most venerable preceptor, you are supremely worshippable in the group of the foremost associates of Sri Gauranga. May you be gracious upon this servitor surrendered unto your loving servitor (Dayita Dasa). O Gaura Kisora, again and again do I make my obeisance unto you.
Although worlds apart in terms of geography and culture, no two nations have been so intimately connected as the United States and India. It was Christopher Columbus' fateful error, in his search for a new route to India, that led him to the discovery of America. He had heard of India from the writings of Marco Polo...
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.
The sampradaya institution has existed in this holy land of Bharata since time immemorial. The word sampradaya is a passive nominal formation from the Sanskrit verb root, sam-pra-da ('to hand down'). Lexicographers define it as 'the instruction that is passed down in a line of spiritual masters.' This is also called disciplic succession or guru parampara, and implies that such instruction in spiritual truth is passed down personally from teacher to disciple in a direct chain (srauta-parampara).
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.