Jai Radhey!
The local Braja-basis often refer to Radhakund simply as “Radha Rani.” You might hear them say, “did you do Radha Rani parikrama today?” Now it is the end of the rainy season and Radha Rani is quite full of water. Here is a picture I took this morning.
Radha Rani
Muralidhar Mahaprabhu, Radha-Krishnachandra, and Radha-Vrindavanchandra
As you walk into Radha-Gopinath Mandir, on the right side is a small room that wouldn’t attract one’s attention. Having been there for darshan several times, we never noticed it. But this time it caught our eye, and we went inside and saw these beautiful deities. The area where you stand for darshan has an extremely high ceiling which is the residence of hundreds of bats. Unfortunately, the room had a very strong odor of bat guano.
ceiling covered in bats
We inquired from some young goswamis at the mandir, and they told us the names of the deities, though we weren’t able to get any more information about them.
Here’s a picture of Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath from Sri Krishna Janamastami 2008. Ananga-manjari (Nityananda Shakti Ma Jahnava) is at the left side of Gopinath. The small deity on Gopinath’s right side is Radharani, and on the far left and right are Lalita and Visakha.
Madhupanditer prana dhana hey... Jaya Radha Gopinath, Radha Gopinath, Radhey!
In Chicago Lectures and Dissertation by Sripad Mahanambrata Brahmacari he gives an explanation of Mahamantra that many may not have heard. Mahanambrata Brahmacari is not directly in our lineage, but his siddhant is in line with ours (except for his mood of worship of Jagadbandhu Sundar). In fact, his is the only other lineage I am aware of who shares the same Nityananda tattva. He gave this lecture (a tiny excerpt is below) in the early 1930s in Chicago at the World Fellowship of Faiths Convention. He came to the US on the instruction of his gurudeva, Sripad Mahendra Ji as the representative of the Mahanam Sampraday to shed light on the path of devotion as taught by Jagadbandhu Sundar. In 1937 he received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago. His English skills are exceedingly good and fortunately he wrote several books in English.
Sripad Mahanambrata Brahmacari
In order to attain that stage of consciousness, we have to take recourse to kirtan, chanting of the Holy Name, which is called Tarak Brahma Nam. This Name has been brought down from Golok Dham by Gouranga Mahaprabhu. He offered his Tarak Nam to all mankind which reads thus:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare HareWe have said that Divine Love is the fundamental reality and Hari is its embodiment. In order to realise himself Sri Hari divides himself into two: the Being-for-self and the Being-for-expression. The former is He Himself and is called Krishna, One who attracts; and the latter is His Loving Energy called Radha, one who adores. Radha is the embodied manifestation of Krishna’s love-principle. Radha is the energy of Krishna’s soul which sets His Love into motion. They are identical in reality and realisation of Love demands a seeming difference between them. When they embrace each other in deep ecstacy, their joy finds expression in affectionately addressing each other. Krishna addresses Radha as ‘Hare.’ He does it eight times times and in between this address Radha addresses Him as ‘Krishna’ four times and as ‘Rama’ four times. This constitutes sixteen names in thirty-two syllables. These addresses go on and their mutual affection deepens. They come nearer and closer and ultimately they become unified again.
The loving sport of Hari never stops. It moves on uninterruptedly in a dialectical fashion. When Radha becomes unified with Krishna, Hari, the Godhead becomes as it were more enriched and more sweet. As a synthesis Hari comprehends within Himself and becomes Gouranga the Brilliant one, the great Lord, Maha Prabhu. Gouranga again separates His Being-for-expression Nityananda — the eternal Bliss from Himself. Again they approach each other more profoundly and with mutual address — Gouranga addresses Nityananda ‘Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare’ and Nityananda addresses Gouranga ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,’ and they ultimately become unified in the most ecstatic state of joy, thereby completing the second round of the dialectic movement of Love.
Sri Srimad 108 Hridayananda Das Babaji Maharaj
Sri Gurupremanande Nitai Gaura Haribol!
(Bhaja) Nitai Gaura Radhey Shyam (Japa) Hare Krishna Hare Ram
Vaisnava carane dandabat. Welcome to our new blog!
I had a desire that the first post in this blog be in glorification of our beloved Gurudev, Kirttanacharya Sri Srimad 108 Hridayananda Das Babaji Maharaj. I was straightening up my room this morning and came across the book Yogi Sri Krishnaprem by Dilip Kumar Raya. While thumbing through it I found this quote which I always loved and felt inspired to use it in the first post.
From a letter Sri Krishnaprem wrote to Dilip Kumar Raya dated September 29, 1945
“My Dear Dilip,
I will tell you what is written in burning letters of fire in my heart that carry their own guarantee of truth:
Krishna and the Guru are one, but if I leave Him, Krishna may leave me–at least He may smile His inscrutable (the samo ‘haM sarva-bhUteSu) smile and say, “Well if you don’t care for Me then I don’t care for you either–at least not more than I care for the louse on a monkey’s backside.” But my Guru will never leave me whatever I do. I might leave him, but he would never leave me. I may fall from the Path, and return to the flesh-pots and wallow in their filthy slops for five lives or fifty lives. I may blaspheme the Sacred Stone within my heart and die cursing God and man–all this and more I may do, but he will never leave my side. Each separate folly of mine will be a stab of sorrow in the heart of he who is sorrowless, but he will never turn away his face nor cease from trying to assuage the pains that I suffer from my own foolish acts. Never, never will he leave my side nor cease to guide my steps until I stand in that eternal Braja where he stands now. God-forsaken and man-forsaken I may be, but Guru-forsaken, never.”
Jai Guru! Sri Guru! Jai Guru! Sri Guru! Jai Guru! Sri Guru!
Living in Sri Radhakund 
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