Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's Appearance Day

Today is the most auspicious appearance day of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, the spiritual master of my beloved guru, Srila Prabhupada. I was here in Atlanta in 1975 with Srila Prabhupada on this day when we along with him worshipped his spiritual master. To stand there near Srila Prabhupada seeing how devotedly he offered arati to his Guru Maharaja made a deep and lasting impression upon me. It was awesome to witness his intense devotional mood. Srila Prabhupada, please bless me that as you are unflinchingly devoted to your spiritual masters that I can also be unflinchingly devoted to you.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How to Be Humble and Strong?

̇Respected Sir,

I touch your feet.

Sir, should a chanter of mahamantra be humble? If yes, how to be humble and at the same time talk strongly with nondevotees?

Warm regards,

Sunil

Answer: By Love

If one is motivated by genuine compassion, one easily be humble and strong at the same time. It is not difficult. A devotee's humility is to fully submit himself to the order of Lord Caitanya to deliver the people of this world from their suffering condition in the cycle of birth and death. This is his humble service to them. Just like one sometimes may have to yell strongly at a child to get out of the street to save him from being hit by a car, sometimes a devotee may speak strongly to someone to save him from the cycle of birth and death. This strong speaking is not done out of pride or arrogance. It is done in a mood of humble loving service to that person to try save him from his precarious predicament in the cycle of birth and death.

So in conclusion we can understand that because the devotee's humility is rooted in strong compassion his strength is his humility and his humility is his strength. In fact there is no one more humble than a devotee and no one more strong. Because of his perfectly humble service mood completely free from any personal motivation for sense gratification he can lead the entire world out of chaos.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Sparrow Who Conquered the Ocean

Image
In his purport to Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, Text 24 Srila Prabhupada wonderfully teaches us the power of determinations by telling us the story of the little sparrow who conquered the ocean: "As for determination, one should follow the example of the sparrow who lost her eggs in the waves of the ocean. A sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean did not even consider her appeal. So the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news of her activity spread, and at last Garuda, the gigantic bird carrier of Lord Visnu, heard it. He became compassionate toward his small sister bird, and so he came to see the sparrow. Garuda was very pleased by the determination of the small sparrow, and he promised to help. Thus Garuda at once asked t
Read more

Heart Melting Reunion with Amarendra and Gayatri

Image
On Friday 26 June 2015 I was blessed with the greatest good fortune of meeting with two of the dearest devotees of my entire life, His Grace Amarendra Prabhu and his good wife, Srimati Gayatri devi dasi. I am eternally indebted to these great souls for how much they helped me in my spiritual life when I was a young devotee. When I was young brahmacari monk in 1973 I joined with the two of them in Gainesville, Florida. We were a three person preaching center, and they were just like a mother and father to me. I had so many wonderful Krishna conscious experiences in their association that I can hardly begin to describe them here. But at least may it suffice for me to say for now that Gayatri taught me what it means to be a soft-hearted devotee of the Lord and she gave me my first cooking lesson, teaching me how to make cauliflower pakoras, and Amarendra taught me the art of how to preach strongly, intelligently, and coolly to defeat opposing arguments. Recently Gayatri almost died. But
Read more

Who is this Krishna?

Image
Krishna is not a myth, nor is He an ordinary historical personality. He is the Supreme All-Attractive Personality of Godhead. He is the oldest of all while simultaneously maintaining the form of a 16 year old youth. He is all-attractive because he exceeds everyone in all of existence by possessing unlimitedly all the qualities that are attractive namely power, beautify, renunciation, knowledge, wealth, and fame. There is no one who equals or excels Him in the possession of these attractive qualities. This is why is accepted by all enlightened spiritualists as being God, the original source of all existence. The perfection of our existence is to re-establish our long forgotten loving relationships with Him. There Is No One More Amazing Than Krishna Video for the Day Don't Be a Hypocrite Answers According to Vedic Wisdom Question: Was Krishna a Real Person? Was Krishna a real person who lived on Earth? Ray Galindo Answer: He Was and He Still Is My Dear Ray, Pleas
Read more