Srila Gurudeva Memories

25/06/2026

DARSANA OF A RASIKA-VRAJA BHAKTA:

𝒌𝙧𝒔𝙣𝒂𝙝 𝙗𝒉𝙖𝒌𝙩𝒊 𝒓𝙖𝒔𝙖 𝙗𝒉𝙖𝒗𝙞𝒕𝙖 𝙢𝒂𝙩𝒊𝙝
𝙠𝒓𝙞𝒚𝙖𝒕𝙖𝒎 𝒚𝙖𝒅𝙞 𝙠𝒖𝙩𝒐 ‘𝙥𝒊 𝒍𝙖𝒃𝙝𝒚𝙖𝒕𝙚
𝙩𝒂𝙩𝒓𝙖 𝙡𝒂𝙪𝒍𝙮𝒂𝙢 𝙖𝒑𝙞 𝙢𝒖𝙡𝒚𝙖𝒎 𝒆𝙠𝒂𝙡𝒂𝙢
𝙟𝒂𝙣𝒎𝙖-𝙠𝒐𝙩𝒊-𝒔𝙪𝒌𝙧𝒕𝙖𝒊𝙧 𝙣𝒂 𝒍𝙖𝒃𝙝𝒚𝙖𝒕𝙚

“…The bhakti that is defined here in that verse, raganuga-bhakti or Vraja-bhakti, can never be achieved simply by great quantities of sukrti. 𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐤𝐚-𝐛𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐫𝐚𝐣𝐚. That high-class devotee’s heart is saturated with love and affection, like an Indian rasagulla, and everywhere there is rasa and rasa. If you squeeze a rasagulla, rasa will come out and still so much rasa will remain inside.

Examples of such rasika-bhaktas are Raya Ramananda, Rupa Gosvami, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, and all those in their disciplic succession from top to bottom. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐁𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚 𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐦𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, and especially from the associates of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We are very fortunate that we are so near to the time of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We can still have the association of that special kind of rasika-bhakta at present, but after some time it will be very, very hard to find a pure devotee in the line of Sri Rupa Gosvami and Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. You are all so fortunate to be hearing these things now.”

-Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayan Gosvami Maharaja,
May 13, 2001, Los Angeles

07/06/2026

𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐇𝐔-𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐀 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄?

𝙜𝒂𝙣̇𝒈𝙖̄𝒓𝙖 𝙥𝒂𝙧𝒂𝙨́𝒂 𝒉𝙤̂𝒊𝙡𝒆 𝒑𝙖𝒔́𝙘𝒂̄𝙩𝒆 𝒑𝙖̄𝒗𝙖𝒏𝙖
𝒅𝙖𝒓𝙨́𝒂𝙣𝒆 𝒑𝙖𝒗𝙞𝒕𝙧𝒂 𝒌𝙖𝒓𝙤̂—𝙚𝒊 𝒕𝙤𝒎𝙖̄𝒓𝙖 𝙜𝒖𝙣̣𝒂

“Only after touching the Gaṅgā does one become purified, but simply by seeing you, one is purified. This is your great quality.”

-Srila Narottama dasa Thakura

“Having accepted shelter of the lotus feet of saintly persons, if one does not imbibe the behavior, precept and conduct of those saints, then how will this human life become successful? 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐚-𝐤𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐚-𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚 (𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠) 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫.

This is why, Sri Rupa Gosvami has also told:

𝙩𝒂𝙣-𝙣𝒂𝙢𝒂-𝒓𝙪𝒑𝙖-𝙘𝒂𝙧𝒊𝙩𝒂𝙙𝒊-𝒔𝙪𝒌𝙞𝒓𝙩𝒂𝙣𝒂𝙣𝒖-
𝙨𝒎𝙧𝒕𝙮𝒐𝙝 𝙠𝒓𝙖𝒎𝙚𝒏𝙖 𝙧𝒂𝙨𝒂𝙣𝒂-𝒎𝙖𝒏𝙖𝒔𝙞 𝙣𝒊𝙮𝒐𝙟𝒚𝙖
𝙩𝒊𝙨𝒕𝙝𝒂𝙣 𝙫𝒓𝙖𝒋𝙚 𝙩𝒂𝙙-𝙖𝒏𝙪𝒓𝙖𝒈𝙞 𝙟𝒂𝙣𝒂𝙣𝒖𝙜𝒂𝙢𝒊
𝒌𝙖𝒍𝙖𝒎 𝒏𝙖𝒚𝙚𝒅 𝒂𝙠𝒉𝙞𝒍𝙖𝒎 𝒊𝙩𝒚 𝒖𝙥𝒂𝙙𝒆𝙨𝒂-𝒔𝙖𝒓𝙖𝒎

This verse is the essenc

02/06/2026

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐘𝐀 𝐕𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐀𝐒?

𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚-𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢̄𝐦̇ 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐚̄𝐭 𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐧̣𝐚𝐲𝐚̄𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢̄𝐫𝐧̣𝐚𝐡̣ 𝐤𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐮
𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐣𝐣𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐚-𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐚̄𝐦̇ 𝐬𝐯𝐚-𝐛𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐢-𝐬́𝐫𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐦

- 𝐒́𝐫𝐢̄ 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐝𝐡𝐚-𝐦𝐚̄𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐚 (𝟏.𝟐)

“Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has come to give 𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐣𝐣𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐚-𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐚̄𝐦̇ 𝐬𝐯𝐚-𝐛𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐢-𝐬́𝐫𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐦. There is a special emphasis on the words, 𝐬𝐯𝐚-𝐛𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐢-𝐬́𝐫𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐦. Sva means own. Whose own? Srimati Radhika’s own. Radhika is the personification of bhakti and Sri Krsna wanted to taste the essence of that supreme devotion to Himself. This essence is the love of Radhika.

“Krsna also wanted to distribute 𝐬𝐯𝐚-𝐛𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐢-𝐬́𝐫𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐦 to the living entities who were qualified to receive it. Here, bhakti refers to 𝑹𝒂𝒅𝒉𝒊𝒌𝒂’𝒔 𝒃𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒕𝒊, and sriya means beauty. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to give to the fortunate living entities the beauty of Srimati Radhika’s 𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐣𝐣𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐚-𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐚̄𝐦̇. That beauty is called 𝒎𝒂𝒏̃𝒋𝒂𝒓𝒊-𝒃𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒂, the mood of Her dear maidservants.”

- Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayan Gosvami Maharaja.

𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://youtu.be/dwreC_djIk8?si=tB9lYfE8YlQlEAz7

15/03/2026

Have you seen Krsna?
Venice Beach, L.A., 2003 🇺🇸 Morning Walk

[ nikuñja-yūno rati-keli-siddhyai
yā yālibhir yuktir apekṣaṇīyā
tatrāti-dākṣyād ati-vallabhasya
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam ]

“The spiritual master is very dear, because he is expert in assisting the gopis, who at different times make different tasteful arrangements for the perfection of Radha and Krsna’s conjugal loving affairs within the groves of Vrndavana. I offer my most humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master.”

[ brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja ]
- C.C. 19.151

“What is the meaning of guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde? It generally means that one can attain the bhakti-latā-bīja—the seed of parā-bhakti—by the combined mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. In this connection, however, there is another meaning. Here the meaning is that the bona fide guru is a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa Himself. Kṛṣṇa does not come to us, but the guru may come, as Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja came and traveled everywhere.”

- Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayan Gosvami Maharaj,
Chapter 5,
Sri Guru-Devatatma 🌸🙏

12/10/2025