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Śrī Vaiṣṇavera Varṇāśrama (The Varṇāśrama of a Pure Vaiṣṉava)
Śrī Vaiṣṇavera Varṇāśrama (‘The Varṇāśrama of a Pure Vaiṣṉava’) was first published in Sajjana Toṣaṇī, Vol. 11. Issue 10 in 1900. In this article, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains how pure Vaiṣṇavas are transcendental to varṇa and āśrama because all of their activities are meant for cultivating kṛṣṇa-bhakti.
Your Son Is a Servant of Kṛṣṇa
Read Śoka-śātana and Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata. When Mahāprabhu accepted sannyāsa, he told his elderly mother, his wife Viṣṇupriyā-devī, and the residents of Navadvīpa: “I am but a human being. I am connected to you in a variety of relationships. When I go, you should establish all those relationships with Kṛṣṇa, instead of with Me, and thereby give Me the chance to serve Hari independently.”
The eternal Ācārya-ship of Gauḍīya Goṣṭhi Pati Paramahaṃsācārya Varya Śri Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākur Prabhupāda
There are three types of Ācārya-ship, one is selected or elected through public vote. But Śrīla Prabhupāda told that – “An ācārya can never be appointed by selection or election. An ācārya is self-manifested sat prakāśa karuna vigraha (mercy Incarnation).” Most of those selected or elected ācārya can expose their dirty picture someday. Even an ācārya appointed by Sad Guru (ācārya), such ācārya is not always successful.
Vigata Vatsarera Samālocanā (A Review of the Previous Year)
Vigata Vatsarera Samālocanā (A Review of the Previous Year) was first published in Sajjana Toṣaṇī, Vol. 11 issue 1 in 1899. In this review, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura describes the hardships of the previous year, in particular the outbreak of the Kolkata plague and lack of cow protection. He also describes some of the positive aspects such as the preaching and nagara-saṅkīrtana.
Samāvedana (A Respectful Petition)
O Śacīnandana! There is no limit to Your mercy. In Your other avatāras, the activity of maintaining the world is quite obvious, but in the avatāra of Śrī Gaurāṅga one can see the culmination of Your compassion towards the jīvas. You are the deliverer of the fallen! You are the only saviour and friend of the jīvas of the age of Kali. If You had not descended, then that pure gem in the form of prema would have remained unattainable for the jīvas! You descended and distributed that nectar of prema which is rare even for Brahmā and Śiva to everyone – the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, caṇḍāla, yavana, mleccha, women and men.
The Eternal Call
It is so cheap to go and to preach about God and the soul and their mutual relation. But there is so little enthusiasm in us to do also. I know for certain that from a stone I cannot press out water. Will my hearers from my dry intellectualism? “From the fruits you will recognise them – the fertile and the barren tree”. Fichte was saying: “A divine behaviour is the most evident proof for the existence of God”. “Not all, who say, O Lord, O Lord! will enter the kingdom of God, but those who do the will of my father” – did not even Christ tell us so?
Śraddhā and Śaraṇāgati
The only way to make the tongue conducive to bhakti is to vow to honour the prasāda of Śrī Kṛṣna and the devotees. At the time of honouring prasāda, one does not think of becoming happy through enjoying, but only thinks of how the Lord of one’s life, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, has become happy by eating. At the time of honouring prasāda, if one feels happy enjoying himself, then there is no mood of anukūlya.
Śrī Nāma-sevā in Śrī Dhāma
The holy name (śrī nāma) of Śrī Vaikuṇṭha (the spiritual dimension) has descended to this earth, and it is in śrī dhāma that śrī nāma has been deposited. The performance of nāma-sevā does not bestow kṛṣṇa-kāma-sevā, service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s desires, which is the true and ultimate objective, upon one who disconnects oneself from śrī dhāma.
Nāma-bhajana and the Mercy of Śrī Hari, Guru & Vaiṣṇavas
You must put all manner of worldly tasks aside and chant one lakh daily, perform pūjā and arcana of the deity, study various sacred texts, and go to the maṭha to take advantage of hearing śrī hari-kathā. This is the special purpose of Kṛṣṇa’s saṁsāra, Bhagavān’s saṁsāra. Many believe that one lakh (lakṣa) of nāma means setting one’s lakṣya (focus) and chanting. But that is a one-sided notion. Chanting a fixed amount of śrī nāma means chanting with a steady heart, crying and weeping anxiously. One must complete one’s fixed number of rounds in that manner [with absorption].
In the way of Sarasvat Gauḍīya Guru-paramparā the jewel Ācārya– Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Vedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja
A genuine Guru-sevak is surely respectable to me, no doubt in it, because we can discover all the transcendental Qualities of Sri Gurudeva in him—all in applied form. The order of the spiritual master must be obeyed without consideration or hesitation.’