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| Inspiring and Instructional Essays about Different Topics by Sacinandana Swami |
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 The Divine Encounter
For your personal advancement I would like to suggest a powerful meditation with which you can establish a conscious connection with Sri Sri Radha and Krishna. In this world there are many things that divert us from our relationship with God – things that focus us on other relationships with other people, our job, society, our dreams, etc....
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Spiritual Surgery and Krishna’s Promise
„You can’t postpone it any longer,“ said the surgeon. „We have to do it now.“ “Okay,” I answered, “when is now?” “As soon as you can be in the operation theater! See you, I am making the necessary preparations now,” replied my doctor.
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Gaura Purnima Message
Once Srimati Radharani woke up with a start. She was next to Sri Krishna on the flower bedecked pastimes bed - and looked with deep questioning eyes into His eyes: "O My beloved," She asked, "I dreamt of someone extraordinarily....
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How to Turn Inner Pain into Great Gain: Change Your Perspective
We have all observed, either through our own experiences or through conversations with others, that the pain arising from disappointment in interpersonal relationships distracts the mind like no other feeling. Even the feeling of being in love does not occupy our thoughts as much as the feeling of being slighted by another person!
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No Fear
Once Srila Prabhupada was asked what he felt when he chanted. He said, “I feel no fear.” Inspired by my master’s words this poem came to me...
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New Year’s Message from Sacinandana Swami
The lives of everyone in the global community have been moving faster over the past so many years. Gone are the days of peaceful contemplation. Instead, the average person’s life is filled with small and large projects, most of them unessential. We’re flooded with information, news, conversation, jobs, activities, commitments, duties, relationships, meetings, travel, and we have too much access to the internet.
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A Heart Full of Krishna
It was early morning. The sun had just started to rise and pour its golden rays over the shoulders of the silent mountains. I was sitting on my bed chanting when suddenly I disconnected from the beautiful scene before me and entered an even more beautiful scene – the scene within the heart. I could clearly see that I was an eternal soul...
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The Lives of Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami: Sanatana Gosvami
Srila Sanatana Goswami was the eldest of the six Goswamis in Vrindavan. Along with his younger brother Rupa, he is considered one of the authorative scholar-devotees entrusted by Sri Chaitanya to formulate the theology of pure bhakti.
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The Lives of Rupa and Sanantana Gosvamis - Rupa Gosvami
Srila Rupa Goswami was one of the principal followers of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and is considered as the perhaps most outstanding of the famous Six Gosvamis in Vrndavana.
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Glories of Jagannatha Puri Dhama
Some of you are contemplating to also visit Jagannath Puri. Wonderful! Here is short glorification of Puri - where the Lord Purusottama (the best of all persons) resides in this form of Jagannatha.
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Moonchild
When I was a child my friends often called me by the affectionate nickname, “Moonchild.” It meant they thought I was somewhat “different.” When I grew up, I found they were right, but not quite in the way they imagined.
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The Wonder That Is Vraja, 2003
By Krishna’s mercy we have just returned from a three-week tour through Vraja, the abode of Lord Krishna. We started our journey at Sridhama Radhakunda then proceeded to lectures at the Govardhan retreat and afterward spent time in holy places such as Suryakunda and Kadamba Khandi hidden throughout the Govardhan area. Finally we visited Vrndavan town. Our hearts are still filled with gratitude.
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Don’t Trust Me
I think You know that I love only You, although I pretend to love other people and things. I think You know that when I am sad it’s because I feel separated from You, although if I am asked I would give other reasons.
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The Sammata Meditation
Today I would like to share with you a personal, three-step meditation that helps me to make direct contact with the Lord even in the midst of a hectic life, and feel peace and energy.
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Teacher Pain
When we carefully study what drives people to spiritual life, we often find a surprising correlation between pain and misery and a rise in spiritual earnestness. Pain pushes us to seek relief beyond the body and mind. Pain and disappointment knock on the closed doors of a superficial life and call us to open ourselves to the Lord in full surrender.
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Becoming Mature in Krishna Consciousness
It’s time to become mature—high time. All around us the signs are clear, crystal clear. The winter of Kali-yuga is increasing its intensity. If we do not become mature soon, our life will freeze on the banyan tree of this world. What exactly does it mean to become mature?
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The Robber Govardhana - Of the Desire to Meet Krsna
Once there was a chief robber in northern India who had many children. One of his sons was named after the sacred mountain Govardhana. Govardhana was a master pickpocket, and time and again he mugged passersby. One day his father gave him a warning: “Never go to a place where they talk about Krishna!”
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Feeling Separation from Krishna: Sri Siksastaka, Verse 7
For devotees of Krishna the world feels empty in the absence of their beloved Lord. In affairs of love there is no substitute for the beloved – no other person, toy, or material object, can replace one’s beloved. Without Krishna the world seems like a playroom filled with meaningless toys ...
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Krishna’s Protection in Times of Misery
"All the troubles encountered in your devotional service are great causes of happiness, for in your devotional service joy and sorrow are equally great riches, both destroy the misery of ignorance."
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Something for the Heart: Spiritual Motherhood
Lord Caitanya continued to give credit to an entire group of devotees and ended: “I have learned from all of them the meaning of devotional service to Krishna.” But there is one devotee to whom he gave the greatest credit, his mother.
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The Nectar of Caring
I have been thinking about how to free ourselves from our relentless mental grinding, and I discovered that to think and act in the interests of others rather than in the interests of our own little ego is liberating. Our own small, mental world is quite limiting and usually quite boring.
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My Meetings with the Pope
For a long time I had wondered how a person would feel when placed in a role that grants him a lot of authority over the minds and lives of others— especially when he represents the supreme Lord. My meeting with Pope John Paul II answered my question.
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Making the Guru-Disciple Relationship Work
Because the guru-disciple relationship is essential for progress on the spiritual path, I would like to discuss it here to either help beginners develop realistic expectations from the outset or, for those who may have suffered due to unmet expectations, to provide guidelines to help make the relationship with the guru more realistic and functional.
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Community of Care
If we wish to create a community of care we must begin with the right understanding. Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes that if we want to motivate people to care for others we need to understand three things: That all living beings are equal, the nature of misery, that to eradicate misery takes determined and concrete measures
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The Spiritual Counsellor System
This text was given to me by Akrura Prabhu. It is a practical guideline how to implement and run the community of care. This guideline serves as an example only - it is not an universal formula applicable to all situations. There are many other possibilities to run a community of care.
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May You Be Blessed
May your eyes be blessed with sweet tears of longing for the beloved of your heart, Sri Sri Radha and Krishna,...
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The Cure for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
As a sadhaka (practitioner of spiritual activities), I have miraculously seen at times in my own life the amazing power of spiritual potency in action, turning me into an enlivened devotee. And I have been sitting sadly on the ground when I felt the absence of this transformative potency.
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Become Deep
A devotee who has received the seed of Krishna consciousness by the mercy of Krishna and his spiritual master should become a transcendental gardener by cultivating those seeds through the processes of chanting and hearing. What do we need to cultivate the transcendental plant of Krishna consciousness?
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A More Relevant and Attractive ISKCON
After thirty-five years experience in ISKCON it has become more and more obvious to me what life in our movement looks like for most of its members. In my opinion it is our sacred duty to adapt our movement to these realities in order to remain relevant and attractive.
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Five Ancient Lessons for Life
When Mohan returned from his journey to Jagannatha Puri, he was a changed man. Those who had never met him were impressed with his character, but those who had known him before were suspicious. Why was Mohan so clear-minded and suddenly so happy?
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