Thursday, March 23, 2006

Vrindavana Consciousness

Another excerpt from Prabhupada At Radha Damodara. This is an excerpt from a speech given by the Municipality of Vrindavana, welcoming Srila Prabhupada and his western disciples to the Holy Dhama in 1971:
O great soul! Today we, the inhabitants of Vrindavan, known as Brijbasis, all combinedly offer our humble welcome to Your Holiness, in this holy place of Vrindavan, and in doing so feel very proud. For many years you stayed at the Radha-Damodara temple, and worshipped Her Majesty Srimati Radharani in a meditative mood, and thus you now have the transcendental vision to deliver the entire world. As proof of your perfection, we can see these foreign disciples before us, and we feel very proud to see how you have transformed them into such pure devotees. We take it for granted that you are one of us in Vrindavan. We are sure that wherever you travel, you must carry with you the impression of Sri Vrindavan Dham. The culture, religion, philosophy, and transcendental existence of Sri Vrindavan Dham travel with you. Through the great message Your Holiness carries, all the people of the world are now becoming very intimately related with Vrindavan Dham. We are certainly sure that through your preaching alone, the transcendental message of Vrindavan will spread all over the world.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Devotional Service In Chivalry?

More nectar courtesy of His Holiness Mahanidhi Swami. The following is an excerpt from the book Prabhupada at Radha Damodar. In this excerpt Jagat Guru Swami explains the “early days” of Sri Sri Radha-Ramanaji.
In the area of the present Radha-raman temple, there used to be a large lake connected to the Yamuna River. For a couple hundred years they worshipped Radha-raman in a tree, and at night put Him in a boat anchored in the middle of the lake. They stood guard with bows and arrows. The arrows would be dipped in a homemade poison, so even if they just nicked you, you would go down; if anyone came to hassle the deity of Radha-raman. In the Radha-raman temple they still have the bows and arrows.