When someone was threatening Guru Maharaj – not just with words, but with implied violence – Guru Maharaj said, “My only aspiration is to be in the dust of the feet of Ramananda Ray.” – On this particular occasion he said it like that. He said, “That is the plane I am interested in and sheltered in. What harm can they do to me?”
The inspiration we seek is achieved in being under the influence of sadhu, Shastra, Guru and Vaishnav.
We sing the glories of Ekadashi and necessarily so. And that is an opportunity – like a bargain or a special sale – that notion: “On this day you get more for less”, in a sense.
The hallmark of progressive devotion is to appreciate devotion in others.
When we learn to properly praise the devotees, if we follow that thread, it will take us to the holy lotus feet of Srimati Radharani and Her divine serving group and their assistants.
Vrindavan is around 50 sq km. That’s the size given of Goloka Vrindavan. 50 sq km. So we think, “Oh, that’s not big at all.” And in one part of the soil of Vrindavan ”is all the material universes, all the Vaikunta-lokas, Dwarakas - everything is there occupied in one small part of that soil of Vrindavan that’s 50 square kilometers. - So we can understand, they’re not ordinary kilometers and neither are the inhabitants there. So do not let the simplicity of Vrindavan deceive us.
Take whatever serving capital you have and invest it into the lotus feet of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Gaura-lila is the entrance to Krishna-lila.
There are different things you could do with a mango tree: you could chop it down and make some furniture or use it as firewood… That would be a shame — to do that to a mango tree. It’s similarly a shame to misread the Vedas and what their purpose is.
“If not for mercy — what hope is there for any of us?” — it sounds so much like Guru Maharaj, you could think Guru Maharaj wrote this part of Shakespeare.
When Ramananda came, Mahaprabhu said, “So, you saw Jagannath?”— “No, I came to see You first. — What?! — And Ramananda Ray said, “The body is like a chariot and the heart is the charioteer, so where the charioteer tells the chariot to go — it has to go. My heart brought me here.”