Re: Krishna: Incarnation of Vishnu?

Thank You Srinath for this wonderful source of information. Yes, it seems it shall answer everything. i will read it. Yours, Matus

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

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Re: Importance of meeting a Nitya Siddha Devotee

By Mahabhagavata, I mean fully Siddha. As I have said before, after a soul is Siddha or perfect, it does not matter much whether the soul was a Nitya Siddha or a Sadhana Siddha because the soul is an Associate of the Lord in either case and each Associate of the Lord has the powerful to make us the Lord's Associate either by his or her Vani or Vapu. Nityananda!! Gauranga!! Hare Krishna!!

Daaso'smi, BR Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada.

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Re: Importance of meeting a Nitya Siddha Devotee

Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna!

Thank You dear Swami Gaurangapada Maharaja, dear Srinath and dear Damodara Svarupa dasa prabhu for Your insightful replies to my question.

With the use of the term "Mahabhgavata", is a Nitya Siddha Devotee of Lord Gaura Krishna meant? Or simply a Pure Devotee, be him Sadhana Siddha, Nitya Siddha or even a devotee of a Madhyama Adhikari platform?

Thank You very much,
Matus

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Re: The Hundred and Eight Names of the Tridandi-sannyasis

Nityananda!! Gauranga!! Hare Krishna!! Shrila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada followed this system of naming all his sannyasi disciples with either one of this 108 last names for Tridandi sannyasis. Shrila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada while preaching in the West, according to time, place and circumstances, decided to transfer the brahmachari names of some of his disciples to their sannyasa name since their brahmachari names were already very spiritual and also as a way to give credit to the wonderful services the devotees rendered in their brahmachari lives. As it is said in the Vedas, phalena parichiyate (judge everything from the results), the very fact that Shrila Swami Prabhupada could fulfill the desire of his Gurudeva Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada by successfully preaching in the West means that his Gurudeva Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta gladly approved the minor changes he made while preaching according to the time, place and circumstances.

Daaso'smi, BR Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada.

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Re: Importance of meeting a Nitya Siddha Devotee

Dear Matus, Nityananda!! Gauranga!! Hare Krishna!! Jaya Shri Vinoda Sarasvata Vedanta Guru Parampara! As we know, association with the Vani of an eternally perfect Associate of the Lord is even more powerful than personal physical direct association with him or her. We have seen many souls, who inspite of being in the personal association of a Mahabhagavata devotee committed offenses and thus were not able to appreciate or take benefit of that pure association. This was due to their lack of understanding of the Vani of that Mahabhagavata. Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura states that a Vaishnava always lives in sound vibration of his Vani eternally. Whereas he is only present for a few years on this planet via Vapu.

There is nothing in Vapu or physical association which is not there in Vani or association by hearing or reading and thus it is not mandatory to have physical association with a Mahabhagavata to become a Mahabhagavata ourselves since all the benefits of that Vapu association can be attained by Vani also. In any case, direct physical association with the Holy Dhaamas of Puri, Navadvipa and Vraja can always be had by the sadhaka along with the association of the purest Vaishnavi Tulasi devi and Naama Prabhu and last but not the least association with the Mahabhagavataas of Gaura lila in the form of Shri Chaitanya Bhagavata, Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Shri Navadvipa Dhaama Mahatmya, Shri Chaitanya Mangala etc.

That said, devotees who are not quite advanced need Vapu or physical association to stabilize their devotional practice. And higher the quality of Vapu, the more they are inspired and encouraged on the path to understanding the Lord and the Associates by Vani. So direct physical association with a Mahabhagavata is certainly an ideal situation but it is not the only way to attain love since their Vani is always available to us also, especially of the Associates of Lord Nitaai Gaura.

Daaso'smi, BR Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada.

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7. Nityananda Gauranga Naam Cintamani (2)

(6) sarva veda usaki jihva pe nace gaya, sakala bhakti siddhanta katha me paya.

�Alle die zahllosen vedischen Schriften singen und tanzen auf der Zunge desjenigen, welcher einfach nur die Nityananda- und Gauranga-Mantrarajas ausspricht. All die wesentliche philosophische Wahrheit der Veden liegt in der Rede und den Worten einer solchen Person, welche die heiligen Namen von Nityananda und Gauranga chantet.�

(7) kali ka agamana dekha jiva ki durdasa; krishna ne jnana karma yoga me choda bharosa.

�Im Hinblick auf die Ankunft des d�stersten und ungl�cksverheissenden Zeitalter des Kali, und des elenden und erbarmenswerten Zustandes der gefallenen Seelen dieses Zeitalters, gab die h�chste Pers�nlichkeit Gottes, Gauranga-Krischna, selbst alles Vertrauen in die zweitrangigen Vorg�nge und Wege zur Befreiung seiner kleinen und kleinsten Teile auf, wie z.B. den Weg des spekulativen Wissens (Gyana), die fruchtbringenden T�tigkeiten (Karma), mystisches Yoga u.s.w. .�

(8) gaurakrishna ne jivoke mangala ki cinta kari, nitai gauranga naam lekara svayam avatari.

�Indem Er ernsthaft �ber das Gl�ck und die Befreiung aller Seiner kleinen und kleinsten Teile, den bedingten Seelen des Kalizeitalters, nachdachte, stieg der h�chste Herr Gauranga-Krischna am 18.Februar 1486 in Sri Navadvipa Dham (130 km n�rdlich von Kalkutta in Indien) von der spirituellen Welt hinab, mit all Seinen Kr�ften und in der vollst�ndigsten Form, in der Begleitung der barmherzigsten heiligen Namen Nityananda, Gauranga und Hare Krischna, und verteilte sie allen und jedem, und erm�glichte es so den Seelen dieses Universums, sich Ihm in Seiner Sankirtan-Bewegung und Rasa-Lila Spielen in der spirituellen Welt von Goloka-Navadvipa-Vrindavana-Puri anzuschliessen.�

(9) bhakti ke gauna patha se sraddha na upajaya, kali me nitai gauranga naam sara haya.

�Im Kalizeitalter ist es unm�glich, den Glauben an ein spirituelles Leben in den ungl�cklichen, materialistischen Menschen durch die abgeschw�chten zweitrangigen Vorg�nge wie spekulatives Wissen, fruchtbringende T�tigkeiten, Aus�bung der beruflichen Pflichten und die mystischen Yoga-Systeme zu erwecken. Das haups�chliche und kraftvolle Mittel im Zeitalter des Kali, um diesen schlummernden und verdeckten Glauben an die Seele Gottes zu erwecken, ist das immerw�hrende Chanten der heiligen Namen von Nityananda, Gauranga und Hare Krischna.�

(10) varnasrama dharma aura sankhya yoga jnana, kali jiva ko tarane me nahi balavana.

�Die vier St�nde (Ashrams) des ledigen Lebens (Brahmacari), verheirateten Lebens (Grihastha), zur�ckgezogenen Lebens (Vanaprastha) und entsagten Lebens (Sannyasa), und die vier Klassen (Varnas) der gebildeten Klasse (Brahmana), �berwachenden Klasse (Kshatriya), H�ndlerklasse (Vaishya) und Arbeiterklasse (Shudra) und auch der Vorgang der spekulativen Analyse der Materie, sind wegen des ausserordentlichen Zerfalls des Bewusstseins nicht l�nger kraftvoll genug, um irgendeine Seele im Kalizeitalter spirituell zu erheben.�

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Re: Importance of meeting a Nitya Siddha Devotee

Dear Vaishnavas,

       Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obeisances! It is not wrong to ask about perfection. This is not material perfection.

       What is real perfection? The real perfection for us jiva souls is to become the servant of the servant, nothing else. Our idea of perfection is relative, therefore we consider our humble position to be a defect. But the truth is that we are in illusion because we refuse to accept our real position as perfect and instead try to be something else, namely trying to be the Lord. That is the cause of all our bewilderment. The more we try to be something else, the more and more fallen and miserable our situation becomes. Those who suffer worst in illusion are the most impersonal.

        Perfected souls are of two types : Sadhaka Siddha and Nitya Siddha. Sadhaka siddhas are souls who become perfect and attain the spiritual world and Nitya siddhas are those who are eternal residents of the spiritual world who never reside in the material world. Words are inaccurate though because once one attains the spiritual world one is not different from the eternal residents there.

        Association with a devotee is of two types : Vani (Sound) and Vapu (Physical). Without the association of a devotee, no one can attain perfection of going back to Godhead. They are our gurus, we are their servants. Without them, we will always rot in this material ocean. Although on the absolute level there is no difference between the two, still for the conditioned souls, there is a difference.

    The preaching movement is a vani movement, nevertheless conditioned souls are so fallen that they cannot get the full benefits of associating with vani alone. We end up scratching the surface and with our level of contamination, it will take an unfathomable amount of time to get complete association with vani. On the relative level, vani is passive association for conditioned souls. Vapu on the other hand is active association. We need that for guiding us. When we slip, when we get doubts, when we do not understand vani, only vapu can save the day. How will we get diksha? Diksha can be given only by vapu. Who will take the trouble to make us learn and show us the path? Just as the Lord descends in his deity form for us, so the devotees descend personally to the world to save us.

       So the answer is simple : Yes. Direct association of a pure devotee is absolutely necessary.  The books and audios and all other vani is meant to drive us to the feet of Sri Guru who in turn gives us qualification to properly associate with vani. It is absolutely necessary. But where it is not so easily available, then we must still try for the next best thing, such as this forum. Without association we cannot be delivered.

       Modern technology has resulted in the distinction between vani and vapu to be blurred considerably as shown by this site. We are fortunate to have managed to get the association of gurudeva H H Swami Gaurangapada and many other devotees here. Nevertheless there is no substitute for seeing the guru face to face and being actually able to fall at his feet...oh the mercy!

Daaso'smi,
Srinath

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Re: Importance of meeting a Nitya Siddha Devotee

Nityananda, Gauranga, Hare Krishna.
Jaya Guru Parampara, Jaya Swamiji Gaurangapada.

My dear Matus,

According to my opinion, the definition of Nitya-siddha is a person whose state of mind is to never forget the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are those, whom I never met in person, who can be called Nitya-siddha. Our diksha Guru and our siksha Gurus can be called Nitya-siddha. Not having met them in person, will I therefore attain or just not attain 'perfection'? What is perfection anyway? Is it possible for a human to become perfect? Personally, I'd rather stay focused on my way Back to Godhead, than trying to obtain 'perfection'.   Another idea is that although I never met Shrila Prabhupada in person, I can still read/follow His preachings in His (audio)books He left for us to hear/read and study. His Spirit/Soul is within His books. He still 'speaks' to us...

Hope to read more comments on this topic. Nityananda, Gauranga, Hare Krishna,
Damodara Svarupa dasa

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Re: Importance of meeting a Nitya Siddha Devotee

Nityananda, Gauranga, Hare Krishna.
Jaya Guru Parampara, Jaya Swamiji Gaurangapada.

My dear Matus,

According to my opinion, the definition of Nitya-siddha is a person whose state of mind is to never forget the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are those, whom I never met in person, who can be called Nitya-siddha. Our diksha Guru and our siksha Gurus can be called Nitya-siddha. Not having met them in person, will I therefore attain or just not attain 'perfection'? What is perfection anyway? Is it possible for a human to become perfect? Personally, I'd rather stay focused on my way Back to Godhead, than trying to obtain 'perfection'.   Another idea is that although I never met Shrila Prabhupada in person, I can still read/follow His preachings in His (audio)books He left for us to hear/read and study. His Spirit/Soul is within His books. He still 'speaks' to us...

Hope to read more comments on this topic. Nityananda, Gauranga, Hare Krishna,
Damodara Svarupa dasa

Comment on this Post