Faith In Gauranga - Lord Gauranga is so merciful

Faith in Gauranga

Listen here:

http://www.guardian-of-devotion.de/audio/2.mp3

Srila Sridhara Maharaja: Gaurahari bol! Gaurahari bol! Gaurahari bol!
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Devotee: Lord Nityananda prabhu recommended simply chant Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga, Gauranga...(unclear) internal...?

Srila Sridhara Maharaja: If we have faith in that we will be more ...gainer than taking Krishna nama. Because there is the concession part.. offenses.. Krishna nama kare aparadher vichara..and less offence in Gaura nama. But faith in Gauranga that is rare. To have faith have in Gauranga .. that is costly. Anyhow if you can gather that then you will be more benefited, more than you negotiate direct with Krishna. The offence is more possible on that side, less offence here, more forgiveness. But Krishna nama has got some universal characteristic accepted by major portion. And Gaura nama is not accepted in such a wider circle, so it difficult to put faith there. But if one can keep...have his faith then he will be a gainer ..Because less consideration of aparadha.. offense. He has particularly come for the fallen soul. So grace is more there. But to put faith in Him that will be difficult. Until we can understand Him ontologically, we cannot go by the help of our experience. Not accepted by greater circle as Krishna is accepted, so many higher scriptures also in favor of Krishna avatara. Wide circle accepts Krishna as Lord. No circle accepts Gauranga as God. Not so many scriptures supporting Him. It is difficult to have faith in Him. But anyhow one come nearer you will be more gainer.

Thanks for the reminder that tomorrow is Mahaprabhu's appearance day. I am going to try to make it to the Iskcon temple and recite the Chaitanya Chandramrita through from beginning to end. This is what I used to do a Pran Gopal Goswami's temple in Nabadwip on Gaura Purnima and other occasions.

Madan Gopal Gosai loved putting me in the middle of a crowd of Babajis and Brahmins, who would all be doing "parayan" of different scriptures. Then he would have the mike put in front of me.

Jagatji, only just now I received a nice file of Caitanya-candramrta. I'll send it to you.

I'll be translating the narration of Gaurapurnima-festivities in nitya-Navadvipa from Siddha Baba's gutika tonight.

Ranganatha, you can just make your post in the regular font size as the rest of us do. We all have important things to say, but we trust that the impression of the relevance of our message will be created by its content, not its size.

Jaya Sachinandana Gaurahari


Happy Gaura Purnima everyone.

Here is an image of a picture devotees may have seen before, it is a picture of baby Nimai which is on the wall of the temple at Haridas Thakur's samadhi in Puri



Jaya Sachinandana Gaurahari

- Muralidhar das

Jaya Sachinandana Gaurahari!
Jaya Sachinandana Gaurahari!
Jaya Sachinandana Gaurahari!

Did you end up going? Do you recite the CC from memory?

Sincerely,
Elpis

Yes I went, and did as I said I would. Unfortunately, not by memory. Only some verses here and there. But I enjoyed doing it, and hopefully Mahaprabhu did also.

Sounds like it was a nice Gaurapurnima celebration. What exactly are the various traditions of reciting the CC in Gaudiya Vaisnavism? On what occassions is it done, besides Gaurapurnima?

Sincerely,
Elpis

I suspect that the only pan-Gaudiya tradition of formally reciting a sanskrit text is Bhagavat-sapta, when Brahmins are engaged to recite the Bhagavatam over a 7-day period. Even then, the emphasis is on patha, extrapolated commentary, rather than on the formality of text recitation itself. At the sapta I attended the recitation was so fast that the sanskrit words were inaudible, and listening was an abstract act of worship by a few pious souls, while the regular daily path was attended by large crowds.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 'parayana' then involves a noisy group reciting anything auspicious, an auspicious cacophony of often many different texts. Even if the assembled group recite the same text there is no effort towards synchronisation, rather 'holy white noise'.

The effect is then something like 'speaking in tongues', and I think this is not a coincidence, for Gaudiyas aim at transcending the literal, attaining a state of ecstacy beyond words, yet they use verbal repetition to achieve this state, including kirtan. The unusual use of words then, is one of Gaudiyaism's unique features in the Indic context.

This is also done at Gaura-Purnima at my little place at the Ganga in Nabadwip Dham. There are two rows of seats with a little table each, decorated, with flowers, a candle, and some misti. I am always invited to participate there too, after going to the Ganga to bring water. It is a very special occasion to speak holy words during Sri Gauranga's abhishek ceremony, while kirtan is going on also. I have never before experienced people, men and women alike, to read with such earnestness and elation at the same time, some with tears in their eyes. Ours is certainly a very wonderful tradition, and I hope it survives in all these heart-touching ways for many generations to come.

Jai Nitai.