Tag: Vrndavana

Raghunatha Dasa realized that when Mahaprabhu gave him the Govardhana-sila He was telling him that his eternal place of residence was at Govardhana and that his service should be performed at Radha-kunda.

The following is a transcript of a class given by Srila Narasingha Maharaja on Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Gosvami Maharaja’s appearance day in Vrndavana at Sri Sri Radha-Damodara Temple on 12th October 2009.

As many of you may already know, there is a very unsightly bypass bridge being built over the Yamuna River in Vrindavana in the area of Kesighat. This government undertaking is disturbing the beauty and sanctity of Kesighat. Furthermore it seems that the construction is actually illegal but the government officials concerned have taken up the project anyway.

This year, on October 31st, on the Sukla-paksa Trayodasi during the month of Karttika, devotees celebrated the day that Srimati Radharani dressed in Subala-vesa – the dress of the cowherd boy Subala.

Shortly after taking sannyasa in 1959, His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svami Prabhupada took residence at the most important temple in Vrndavana, the Sri Sri Radha-Damodara Mandira at Seva Kunja. Sri Nirmal Candra Gosvami, the present Sevaite-acarya of Radha-Damodara Mandira, who was a young man at the time, remembers when Srila Prabhupada first came to reside at Sri Sri Radha-Damodara Mandira.

We did not venture to enter the details of madhurya-rasa. Our Guru Maharaja did not like it. But it will come irresistibly within you, you go on, sravana kirtana. Pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. It is so high. When it will come it will awaken within you. It won’t be awakened by any other person.

Some devotees worship Govardhana as Krsna or Balarama and others worship Him as the best devotee of Krsna (Srimati Radharani). How should we worship Govardhana?

There is a famous temple (Radha Vallabha Mandira) in Vrndavana where the Deities of Radha Vallabha are worshipped and which is visited by many western devotees when they come to Vraja. What is the background of this temple and does it have any link with the Gaudiya sampradaya and it's philosophy?

Now today, after so long, there is a solar-eclipse here in Kuruksetra. It is as though a great holiday is taking place in our country. It has been so long since there has been a solar-eclipse. All this royalty has come to Kuruksetra on this occasion looking to fulfill their innumerable material desires. Some are seeking wealth, others are looking for sons and heirs, while others are simply seeking pious credits towards future happiness. But the Vrajavasis have come because they are burning with the desire to catch even a momentary glimpse of Krsna. "Krsna is coming. Surely I will be able to see Him."

Once we counted Raghunatha Dasa Goswami’s gurus, and we found that he had nine gurus. So then the question is, “Which one of his gurus is most important?”