Author: Swami B.G. Narasingha

If all of you have been following his teachings for 25-30 years and you are not qualified, then why should I follow his teachings? It must mean that his teachings have no potency. That is what the ritviks are actually saying.

Recently, we came across a discussion on the internet regarding sraddha - the importance of faith. Is it essential or only a necessity for the beginner? It is an area of siddhanta that is little understood by a vast majority of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas residing in western countries.

His Divine Grace Sri Srila Bhakti Rakshaka Sridhara Deva Goswami Maharaja, the founder of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Matha, was born in India in 1895, in a respected Brahmana family of the Bhattacarya order, at Hapaniya, District Burdwan, West Bengal.

Ramanuja presented the living entities' relationship with Godhead as being one of eternal service. According to Ramanuja, when the living entities are freed from the illusions produced by the material energy by the method of devotion and natural love of God-like the dealings between an affectionate servant and his master—then the soul enters the spiritual sky known as Vaikuntha.

Some regard the ideal forms of sacred Vastu architecture as metaphors while others prefer to see them as fixed, eternal truths. In any case it is a fact that sacred architectural forms (as presented in the Vastu Shastra) have the ability to uplift the human consciousness from the mundane reality to the supernatural.

"The constitutional position of the jiva is that of an eternal servant of Krishna. The jiva belongs to the marginal potency of Krishna and as such the jiva is considered a manifestation simultaneously one and different from Krishna."

It is stated in Our Original Position, Chapter eight that Srimati Radharani cursed Her dear maidservant Vrinda Devi to fall down to material existance and that this is factual evidence that the jiva soul falls from the Lords eternal lila.

This ontology on the topic of "Vaishnava" was first compiled in the book Gaudiya Kanthahara, under the chapter Vaishnava-tattva, by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada.

Salagrama-silas are sacred black stones that come from the Gandaki River valley of the Himalayas. Sila means stone. The qualities and characteristics of the Salagrama-silas are not found on stones anywhere on earth except in the Gandaki region.

One evening as we sat at Srila Puri Maharaja's lotus feet hearing about what it means to be a genuine Vaisnava, we were astounded when suddenly Srila Puri Maharaja said, "There is a wave of sahajiyaism coming to the Western world and you must preach against this misconception."