Weekly Sanga

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Text 111 tathāpy asyāṁ vraja-kṣmāyāṁ prabhuṁ sa-parivārakam viharantaṁ tathā nekṣe khidyate smeti man-manaḥ TRANSLATION Yet my mind would still feel sad because I couldn’t see the Lord and His companions play as they do here in the land of Vraja.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Text 107 kṛṣṇasya bhakta-vātsalyād yasya kasyāpi karmaṇaḥ saṅkīrtanaṁ mahān eva guṇaḥ śrī-prabhu-toṣaṇaḥ TRANSLATION “Kṛṣṇa is so kind to His devotees that saṅkīrtana of any of His activities is glorious and beneficial, and satisfying to our divine master.”

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Text 91 yathā-kālaṁ tataḥ sarve niḥsaranto mahā-śriyaḥ ājñayā nirgamānicchuṁ yuktyā māṁ bahir ānayan TRANSLATION When the time came to stop, everyone, on the request of Lakṣmīdevī, started to leave, but I didn’t want to go. The devotees had to persuade me to let them escort me outside.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Text 78 utthāpya tair eva balāc cireṇa saṁjñāṁ praṇīto ’śru-nipāta-vighnam sammārjanenābhibhavan karābhyāṁ netre prayatnād udamīlayaṁ dve TRANSLATION With some effort, those attendants lifted me up, and after some time I regained consciousness. I wiped away with my hands the flood of tears that blocked my sight, and with difficulty I finally opened my eyes.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Text 79 tāvad dayālu-pravareṇa tena snehena gambhīra-mṛdu-svareṇa svastho bhavāgaccha javena vatsety- ādy ucyamānaṁ śrutavān vaco ’ham TRANSLATION Then I heard the Lord, that best of merciful persons, tell me in a deep, gentle voice, “Please come back to your senses. Dear boy, come here quickly!”

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Texts 62-63 mahā-mahā-citra-vicitra-geha- dvāra-pradeśān atigamya vegāt śrīman-mahalla-pravarasya madhye prāsāda-vargaiḥ pariṣevitāṅghrim prāsādam ekaṁ vividhair mahattā- pūrair viśiṣṭaṁ para-sīma-yātaiḥ prāpto ’ham āditya-sudhāṁśu-koṭi- kāntiṁ mano-locana-vṛtti-coram TRANSLATION I passed rapidly through many districts, wonderfully splendid, with all kinds of h...

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Texts 56-57 itthaṁ harṣa-prakarṣeṇot- tiṣṭhann upaviśan bhṛśam gopure vartamāno ’haṁ tair javenaitya pārṣadaiḥ antaḥ praveśyamāno yad dṛṣṭavān adbhutādbhutam vaktuṁ tad dvi-parārdhena sahasrāsyo ’pi na kṣamaḥ TRANSLATION Thus I thrilled with delight as I waited in the gateway to Vaikuṇṭha. I excitedly stood up and sat down, stood up and sat down, till the assoc...

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Texts 42-43 tathāpi bhavato brahman prapañcāntar-gatasya hi prapañca-parivārāntar- dṛṣṭi-garbhita-cetasaḥ tad-dṛṣṭāntākulenaiva tat tat syād bodhitaṁ sukham tathety ucyeta yat kiñcit tad āgaḥ kṣamatāṁ hariḥ TRANSLATION Nonetheless, my dear brāhmaṇa, you are a resident of the material world, and your intelligence is confined because you can see only matter. Ther...

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Text 28 ke ’py ekaśo dvandvaśo ’nye yugapad bahuśo ’pare pūrva-pūrvādhika-śrīkāḥ praviśanti purīṁ prabhoḥ TRANSLATION Many others came — some alone, others in pairs, and yet others together in larger groups — and all of them, each more splendid than the last, entered the city of the Lord.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Text 14 tad asvī-kṛtya tu svīyaṁ govardhana-bhuvaṁ vapuḥ teṣāṁ prabhāvatas tādṛg- guṇa-rūpādy alambhayam TRANSLATION But I refused their offer, and instead, by their influence, my own body born in Govardhana assumed qualities and beauty like theirs.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 4 Texts 10-11 tāvat taiḥ pārṣadair etya vaikuṇṭhaṁ netum ātmanaḥ yānam āropitaḥ sadyo vyutthāyācālayaṁ dṛśau sarvam anyādṛśaṁ dṛṣṭvā vismitaḥ svasthatāṁ gataḥ pārśve ’paśyaṁ purā dṛṣṭāṁs tān evātma-priyaṁ-karān TRANSLATION At that moment the associates of the Lord arrived in an airplane to take me to Vaikuṇṭha. They at once put me on that plane and carried me awa...

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 184 śrīman-nāma prabhos tasya śrī-mūrter apy ati-priyam jagad-dhitaṁ sukhopāsyaṁ sa-rasaṁ tat-samaṁ na hi TRANSLATION Dearer to the Lord than even His own beautiful form, His easily worshiped holy name benefits the entire world. Indeed, nothing is as full of nectar as the holy name of the Lord.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 184 śrīman-nāma prabhos tasya śrī-mūrter apy ati-priyam jagad-dhitaṁ sukhopāsyaṁ sa-rasaṁ tat-samaṁ na hi TRANSLATION Dearer to the Lord than even His own beautiful form, His easily worshiped holy name benefits the entire world. Indeed, nothing is as full of nectar as the holy name of the Lord.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 168 vicitra-līlā-rasa-sāgarasya prabhor vicitrāt sphuritāt prasādāt vicitra-saṅkīrtana-mādhurī sā na tu sva-yatnād iti sādhu sidhyet TRANSLATION The wonderfully varied sweetness of saṅkīrtana emerges only by the mercy shown in various wonderful ways by the Lord, the wonderful ocean of the varied rasas of pastimes. This sweetness one can never truly achieve...

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 167 nāmnāṁ tu saṅkīrtanam ārti-bhārān meghaṁ vinā prāvṛṣi cātakānām rātrau viyogāt sva-pate rathāṅgī- vargasya cākrośana-vat pratīhi TRANSLATION Like the distressed crying of the cātaka birds on a cloudless day of the rainy season, or the lamenting of a flock of cakravākī birds when parted from their husbands at night, the saṅkīrtana of the Lord’s names ar...

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 162 ekasminn indriye prādur- bhūtaṁ nāmāmṛtaṁ rasaiḥ āplāvayati sarvāṇīn- driyāṇi madhurair nijaiḥ TRANSLATION When the nectar of the Lord’s name appears in just one sense, all the senses are flooded with their own sweet tastes.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 157 ekākitvena tu dhyānaṁ vivikte khalu sidhyati saṅkīrtanaṁ vivikte ’pi bahūnāṁ saṅgato ’pi ca TRANSLATION Meditation one can successfully perform only in seclusion, but saṅkīrtana either in seclusion or in the company of many others.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 150 evaṁ prabhor dhyāna-ratair mataś ced buddhyedṛśaṁ tatra vivecanīyam dhyānaṁ parisphūrti-viśeṣa-niṣṭhā sambandha-mātraṁ manasā smṛtir hi TRANSLATION If those attached to meditation on the Lord still insist that remembering is of greater importance, with their intelligence they should make the following distinction: In meditation the Lord reveals Himself...

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 146 premṇo ’ntar-aṅgaṁ kila sādhanottamaṁ manyeta kaiścit smaraṇaṁ na kīrtanam ekendriye vāci vicetane sukhaṁ bhaktiḥ sphuraty āśu hi kīrtanātmikā TRANSLATION Some think that remembering, rather than chanting, is the essential means of devotional practice, the means that most effectively leads to prema, for bhakti in the form of chanting appears quickly an...

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 143 tvarā ced vidyate śrīmad- vaikuṇṭhālokane tava sarvābhīṣṭa-prada-śreṣṭhāṁ tāṁ śrī-vraja-bhuvaṁ vraja TRANSLATION If you are in a hurry to see the divine world of Vaikuṇṭha, then go to Śrī Vraja-bhūmi, the place that can best award the fulfillment of all your ambitions.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 133 nijendriya-manaḥ-kāya- ceṣṭā-rūpāṁ na viddhi tām nitya-satya-ghanānanda- rūpā sā hi guṇātigā TRANSLATION You should not consider devotional service merely an activity of the body, senses, and mind. It is in fact the eternal absolute reality, manifesting itself as the most intense ecstasy, beyond the material modes.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 128 teṣāṁ kasmiṁścid ekasmiñ śraddhayānuṣṭhite sati svayam āvirbhavet premā śrīmat-kṛṣṇa-padābjayoḥ TRANSLATION When one engages with faith in even one of these forms of bhakti, pure love for the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa automatically arises.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 127 tathāpi tad-rasa-jñaiḥ sā bhaktir nava-vidhāñjasā sampādyate vicitraitad- rasa-mādhurya-labdhaye TRANSLATION Yet devotees who understand the rasas of devotional service may practice all nine forms of bhakti to easily obtain the sweetness of its diverse tastes.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 120 śrī-gopa-kumāra uvāca nija-stutyā tayā tasmin hriyā tūṣṇīṁ sthite prabhau bhagavat-pārṣadās te mām āśliṣyocuḥ suhṛd-varāḥ TRANSLATION Śrī Gopa-kumāra said: Abashed at hearing himself praised, Lord Śiva remained silent. Then the associates of Lord Viṣṇu, who were Lord Śiva’s dearmost friends, embraced me and spoke.

Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta Part 2 Chapter 3 Text 120 śrī-gopa-kumāra uvāca nija-stutyā tayā tasmin hriyā tūṣṇīṁ sthite prabhau bhagavat-pārṣadās te mām āśliṣyocuḥ suhṛd-varāḥ TRANSLATION Śrī Gopa-kumāra said: Abashed at hearing himself praised, Lord Śiva remained silent. Then the associates of Lord Viṣṇu, who were Lord Śiva’s dearmost friends, embraced me and spoke.