LEGENDARY STEP

"Prabhupada's great journey, legendary voyage was to come to the West [...]"

"Why did Prabhupada get on the boat?  We have to stop and think "Why did Prabhupada get on the boat? [...]

So what about keeping Prabhupada in the center and what about remembering why Prabhupada got on the boat...  What about Prabhupada determination to keep trying .... that's what is about [...] why did Prabhupada get on the boat?  What did he really want, which were his expectations [...] what would Prabhupada said to us today [...]  Prabhupada got on that boat, no body else would get on that boat, Prabhupada did something that nobody else would have done. " Hridayananda Maharaja's lecture "I like this competition" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp-vPj3FXT0

"On this day we all think very hard and pray really pray hard to the Deities and Srila Prabhupada and really try to get the intelligence and the empowerment." Hridayananda Maharaja

The legendary step  

When you got on that boat

the ocean of miseries

started to dry

and you caused the sun to rise

on the horizon dark side,

as the mission of your life.

The step that you moved into that boat

had the gait of the empowered saint

descending from mystical stairs

loving and resolute with faith,

captain of the Lord's grace,

of a legendary travel

beyond boundaries

of time and place.

When you got on that boat,

myriads of souls,

slapped against shores

deserted of hopes,

started to dance

for the ghee of the Holy Names

fell in the dormant flames

of hearts living in vain,

ending faithless restrictions

of birth, caste - any mundane chain.

Your feet on that boat

challenged the arid infertile void

filling its vows of silence

with sound reverberating joy,

a renaissance started

around the world

on every continent roads,

a land of prophecies

was finally disclosed.

The magic of your step

on that boat,

was the desire

of the Golden Lord

to carry loving devotion

to the entire world,

and you want us still

to keep bestowing

upon people your gift,

as it was received

and by bringing your feet

to step - again and again

on that ship,

as intelligently as you did;

only in this way 

love and compassion

will reach many hearts

by your ever-flowing love.

On your glorification by your spiritual grand-daughter,

MadhavaLata dd

LOVE under the TAMARIND TREE

In my search for the pastimes of Krishna in Vraja where He manifests His golden form as Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the pastime at Imli Tal is a shining gem.

This is in short :

When Shri Radha disappeared from the midst of the rasa dance, Krishna was searching for Her with intense feelings of separation. This mood of separation increased Their anticipation for meeting, and thus very much increased Their intensity of love.Krishna, in this mood of separation sat down under this Tamarind Tree or Imli Tal and became so completely absorbed in the thoughts of Shrimati Radharani and chanting Her name, that His body assumed the color of Shrimati Radharani.

Nava Vraja Mahima "For a moment Radha and Krshna gazed into each other's faces, and then, in the same way that the moon sinks into the ocean, They submerged Themselves in the waves of each other's ambrosial beauty." pg 363

"God is engaged in enjoying with His eternal consort, Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. This Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī is enchanting Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is enchanting Rādhārāṇī. [...] In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that when Kṛṣṇa comes before Rādhārāṇī, She becomes so much engladdened by seeing the beauty of Kṛṣṇa that She becomes more beautiful, and as soon as Rādhārāṇī becomes beautiful, Kṛṣṇa becomes engladdened and He becomes more beautiful. So unlimitedly there is competition of becoming more beautiful, duhe lage hurai (?). That is the state. Competition. Because in the spiritual world everything is unlimited. So unlimitedly both of them becoming beautiful and both of them enjoying unlimitedly."Srila Prabhupada - Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- New Vrindaban

Under the spell of the lunar light

Shyam took a beam

to adorn Radha's face,

but saw it brighter than the Moon!

as Her eyes like Chakora birds

flew on the rays

drinking the moonlight of His face.

Radha slipped a berry in His mouth

with grace

and hesitant fingertips ~

how much redder now were His lips!

'cause Krishna, sipping

the red lotus of Her eyes,

was instantly drowned 

by the sweetness of Her love

and fell spellbound.

Closing His eyes

tuned a note on His flute

to attract Her mind,

but when surprised to find

       Her behind His eyelid    (1)

a shiver ran up His skin,

and enraptured He screamed

Radhe, Radhe,

under that Tamarind tree,

under the stars in the sky,

on the river of Their Love,

He sat and cried,

and drifted into ecstasy

in an unknown shoreless sea,

lost His mind in Her heart,

and became the Moon,

golden glowing

with Her love mood.

1) Gopala Campu 17.3 “Whenever Radha or Krishna fainted in private, they had an internal vision of their lover, equivalent to actual presence, for bringing auspicious results.”

IMLI Tal mentioned in Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya Lila Ch. 18.76-78

"The tamarind tree named Teṅtulī-talā was very old, having been there since the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. Beneath the tree was a very shiny platform.

Since the River Yamunā flowed near Teṅtulī-talā, a very cool breeze blew there. While there, the Lord saw the beauty of Vṛndāvana and the water of the River Yamunā.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to sit beneath the old tamarind tree and chant the holy name of the Lord. At noon He would return to Akrūra-tīrtha to take lunch."

TEMPLE of GRATITUDE

"Every living entity, especially persons in the human race, must feel grateful for the benedictions offered by the grace of the Supreme Lord." Srila Prabhupada -  S B 2.3.21

ONE SPECK OF DUST!

SB 4.20.25 "My dear Lord, You are glorified by the selected verses uttered by great personalities. Such glorification of Your lotus feet is just like saffron particles. When the transcendental vibration from the mouths of great devotees carries the aroma of the saffron dust of Your lotus feet, the forgetful living entity gradually remembers his eternal relationship with You. Devotees thus gradually come to the right conclusion about the value of life. My dear Lord, I therefore do not need any other benediction but the opportunity to hear from the mouth of Your pure devotee."