Sound Bhakti

In this Age of Kali, hari-kīrtana is very, very important. The importance of chanting the holy name of the Lord is stated in the following verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.3.51-52): kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya  mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt “The most important facto...

(1) jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-bihārī gopī-jana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī (2) yaśodā-nandana braja-jana-rañjana yāmuna-tīra-vana-cārī TRANSLATION 1) Krsna is the lover of Radha. He displays many amorous pastimes in the groves of Vrndavana, He is the lover of the cowherd maidens of Vraja, and the holder of the great hill named Govardhana. 2) He is the beloved son of mother Yasoda, the delighter of the...

"How could this happen to me? I'm so powerful. I have everything." This is one of the inevitable, startling moments in the life of every soul in this world who identifies with the body and thinks, "I've got it made. I went to the best school," or not, whatever it may be. "Everything's lined up." And then the crocodile comes. And then there's this reckoning point in Gajendra's struggle with the cro...

Every mantra is a medicinal dose. It has to go in the ear. It's auṣadhi. Hear, then it goes into your heart. So, you get 108 individual medicinal doses per round. So, make sure you get all 108 here (ear) and then into here (heart). Don't think of it as one round. Think of it as 108 individual medicinal doses, and each one you've got to put the dose here (points to the ear). So, make sure it goes h...

So as the cloud is collection of water from the sea—cloud means evaporation of water from the sea—similarly, guṇārṇavasya, there is an ocean of mercy of Kṛṣṇa, or God. If one is able to collect water, or the dust, from the merciful ocean of Kṛṣṇa, and if we can pour over it the saṁsāra-dāvānala, then it is possible to extinguish this fire. In other ways, just like the forest fire cannot be extingu...

(1) je ānilo prema-dhana koruṇā pracur heno prabhu kothā gelā ācārya-ṭhākur (2) kāhā mora swarūp rūpa kāhā sanātan kāhā dāsa raghunātha patita-pāvan (3) kāhā mora bhaṭṭa-juga kāhā kavirāj eka-kāle kothā gelā gorā naṭa-rāj (4) pāṣāṇe kuṭibo māthā anale paśibo gaurāńga guṇera nidhi kothā gele pābo (5) se-saba sańgīra sańge je koilo bilās se-sańga nā pāiyā kānde narottama dās TRANSLATION 1)...

Meanwhile, he (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta) had given attention to this printing process, with which he printed pamphlets, newsletters and books. He advocated for a mansion of books. He advocated for millions of pamphlets and articles and newsletters to go out. In fact, he had several newsletters that would go out on a regular basis, daily. He had been questioned once by a reporter who was amazed that h...

My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth. Attachment to his lotus feet is the perfection that fulfills all desires. (Translation, Sri Guru Vandana Verse 2) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ----------------...

nadīyā-nagare nitāi nece’ nece’ gāy re Oh! In the towns and villages of Nadiya, Lord Nityananda ecstatically dances and sings these names of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (refrain) To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: iskconsv.com/boo...

Oh! In the towns and villages of Nadiya, Lord Nityananda dances and dances ecstatically while singing these divine names, and Bhaktivinoda falls down at His reddish lotus feet. (Translation, Verse 7) To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature col...

tasmāt saṅkīrtanaṁ viṣṇor jagan-maṅgalam aṁhasām mahatām api kauravya viddhy aikāntika-niṣkṛtam Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: “My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore, the chanting of the saṅkīrtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will tak...

Kṛṣṇa has this inclination: He is ready to pour out mercy unlimitedly to any personality. We find the key here in Prahlāda Mahārāja, that if one imbibes this mood of service for service, then that's the moment we feel satisfied, but that's also the moment Kṛṣṇa takes notice of us and unleashes an ocean of mercy into our lives. For devotees who realize that this is our eternal relationship, they ca...

Śrīla Prabhupāda gave some instructions about japa, and in one of them, he talks about how japa is forced meditation. One of the meanings of that is that one may sit and meditate, and that requires one's own introspection, whereas Kṛṣṇa's name has its own force because He's personally present there. But we are responsible for being aware of Kṛṣṇa's names when we're chanting. That's listed amongst...

(1) nadīyā-godrume nityānanda mahājana patiyāche nām-haṭṭa jīvera kāraṇa (2) (śraddhāvān jan he, śraddhāvān jan he) prabhura ājñāy, bhāi, māgi ei bhikṣā bolo `kṛṣṇa,’ bhajo kṛṣṇa, koro kṛṣṇa-śikṣā (3) aparādha-śūnya ho’ye loho kṛṣṇa-nām kṛṣṇa mātā, kṛṣṇa pitā, kṛṣṇa dhana-prān (4) kṛṣṇaera saḿsāra koro chāḍi’ anācār jīve doyā, kṛṣṇa-nām—sarva-dharma-sār TRANSLATIO...

(1) nadīyā-godrume nityānanda mahājana patiyāche nām-haṭṭa jīvera kāraṇa (2) (śraddhāvān jan he, śraddhāvān jan he) prabhura ājñāy, bhāi, māgi ei bhikṣā bolo `kṛṣṇa,’ bhajo kṛṣṇa, koro kṛṣṇa-śikṣā (3) aparādha-śūnya ho’ye loho kṛṣṇa-nām kṛṣṇa mātā, kṛṣṇa pitā, kṛṣṇa dhana-prān (4) kṛṣṇaera saḿsāra koro chāḍi’ anācār jīve doyā, kṛṣṇa-nām—sarva-dharma-sār TRANSLATIO...

This japa is described as a kind of self-examination. It's possible to live an unexamined life. Socrates said, "The unexamined life isn't worth living." There's no value in it. Worth means you're getting something out of it. One feature of japa is that we have 108 contiguous decisions to make. Each bead is a new decision: "Will I meditate on the mantra that goes with this bead?" And you can see, i...

As prabhu mentioned, we talked a lot about what our goals were. You know, before getting married, we wanted to make sure that we were in sync—what we wanted to do with our lives, how we wanted to serve our Gurudeva and the mission. We found that we had a lot of things in common. Of course, when you’re young and you get married, you don’t know what’s going to happen down the road. So we have always...

The first interaction I remember having with you was at the old Calcutta airport sometime in the 1990s. A group of about six god sisters, traveling together, arrived on the same flight as you and a few god brothers. Our cars had not yet arrived to take us to Mayapur, and we were unsure what to do. There were no cell phones. We were stuck. Whilst everyone else from the flight left, you, alone, stay...

The whole world has this kind of madness because of krodha or cynicism, and it's self-protective. It's hard for people to entertain the idea that there may be some truth. So Prahlāda Mahārāja here gives what may be the antidote to that. First of all, he describes: "sa tvaṁ hi nitya-vijitātma-guṇaḥ sva-dhāmnā." He's describing the mechanism of the material world. And he's saying that it has various...

gītā su-gītā kartavyā kim anyaiḥ śāstra-vistaraiḥ yā svayaṁ padmanābhasya mukha-padmād viniḥsṛtā Because Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one need not read any other Vedic literature. One need only attentively and regularly hear and read Bhagavad-gītā. In the present age, people are so absorbed in mundane activities that it is not possible for them to read all the Ved...

I just got off a class with the devotees in Mayāpur. We are taking the Bhakti-vedānta, and we have been reading this morning from the section of the Bhāgavatam: Kṛṣṇa chastises Kāliya. In our discussion, we had been talking about the ways in which Kāliya had received Kṛṣṇa's mercy because he danced on his hoods, but he simultaneously pounded him with his lotus feet. Because of that, he vomited out...

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://iskconsv.com/book-store/ h...

tasmāt saṅkīrtanaṁ viṣṇor jagan-maṅgalam aṁhasām mahatām api kauravya viddhy aikāntika-niṣkṛtam Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: “My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore, the chanting of the saṅkīrtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will tak...

nārada muni, bājāy vīṇā 'rādhikā-ramaṇa'-nāme nāma amani, udita haya, bhakata-gītā-sāme When the great soul Nārada Muni plays his vina, the holy name, Radhika-raman, descends and immediately appears amidst the kirtan of the Lord’s devotees. (Translation verse 1) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthes...

O King, constant chanting of The Holy Name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge. https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/1/11 -----------------------------...