Maha Gaura-purnima Festival, March 26, Laguna Beach, California

 Association, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Caitanya-caritamrta, Gaura Purnima, Lectures, Vaisesika Das  Comments Off on Maha Gaura-purnima Festival, March 26, Laguna Beach, California
Mar 282016
 

03.26.16_05.GauraPurnima_Laguna“Devotees are infused with bhakti-sakti, and Krishna consciousness comes out through every pore in their body. Just as someone can get a person’s disease by eating the remnants of his or her food, because devotees are infected by Krishna consciousness, by coming in touch with them—through the dust of their feet, the water that has washed their feet, or the remnants of their food—one can get that infection. And we want that infection.

bhakta-pada-dhuli ara bhakta-pada-jala
bhakta-bhukta-avasesa—tina maha-bala

‘The dust of the feet of a devotee, the water that has washed the feet of a devotee, and the remnants of food left by a devotee are three very powerful substances.’ (Cc Antya 16.60)

“It is by the association of devotees that one comes to Krishna consciousness. And even after developing love for Krishna, the association of devotees is still most essential.

krsna-bhakti-janma-mula haya ‘sadhu-sanga’
krsna-prema janme, tenho punah mukhya anga

‘The root cause of devotional service to Lord Krsna is association with advanced devotees. Even when one’s dormant love for Krsna awakens, association with devotees is still most essential.’ (Cc Madhya 22.84)”

—Giriraj Swami

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Kirtan by Giriraj Swami
Talk and kirtan by Vaisesika Dasa
Realizations by various devotees
Talk by Giriraj Swami

Association and Guru-seva, May 27, Dallas

 Association, Bhaktivinod Thakur, Dallas, Lectures, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam  Comments Off on Association and Guru-seva, May 27, Dallas
May 282011
 

Giriraj Swami read and commented from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.7.30.

“Sometimes, due to circumstances, a devotee may be living away from a temple and the association of a community of devotees. That is a difficult situation to be in. In that case, one should try to make the association with one’s family members as spiritual as possible.

We need to engage all our resources, and the way to do that is by preaching. So if by chance we live far from a temple, we should make our home like a temple. That means more than just having an altar with Deities or pictures; it means that the activities in our home should be the same as the activities in the temple. And we should preach — invite people to our homes and go out and have programs. We can start our own temple and make our own community of devotees.”