A Summary Study of Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita Taking the role of His own devotee, Lord Sri Krishna appeared as Sri Krishna Chaitanya about five centuries ago in Bengal, India, and began a great social and spiritual revolution that has profoundly affected the lives of millions worldwide. His conversations with the great scholars, kings, and mystics of the day form the basis of Teachings of Lord Chaitanya.
Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta is the main work on the life and teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the incarnation of Krishna who appeared in India five hundred years ago. Lord Chaitanya introduced the chanting of the holy names of God as the prescribed method of God-realization for our time. He began what is today called the Hare Krishna movement, since the movement's founder, Srila Prabhupada, comes in the Chaitanya line of spiritual masters. Lord Chaitanya transformed the face of India in four respects: philosophically, by encountering, defeating and converting the greatest philosophers and thinkers of His day; religiously, by organizing the largest, most widespread theistic movement in India's history; socially, by His strong challenges to the religious inequities of the caste system; politically, by His organization of a massive civil disobedience movement in Bengal, more than four centuries before Gandhi. This English translation with commentary, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, reveals his consummate Bengali and Sanskrit scholarship, his intimate familiarity with the precepts of Sri Chaitanya, and his pure devotion to God.
"In this jewel-like volume, the venerable Tirtha Maharaja recounts the nectarean activities of the associates of Lord Gauranga and the acharyas of the Gaudiya Vaishnava religion." ––Swami B.P. Puri, Founder Acharya, Gopinath Gaudiya Math Srila Bhakti Ballabha Tirtha Goswami Maharaja has gathered a great deal of information about the lives of the devotees from numerous sources, and has made this information more relishable by virtue of his own insight. These biographies of Mahaprabhu's devotees should be read on their appearance and disappearance days, for this will bring great joy to both those who hear and those who read them. In this English translation, it will be possible for devotees around the world to enjoy them. Herein, the author delights in the life stories of Jagannath Mishra, Madhavendra Puri, Ishvara Puri, Advaita Acharya, Srivas Pandit, Chandrasekhar Acharya, Pundarika Vidyanidhi, Gadadhar Pandit, Vakresvara Pandit, Gadadhar Das, Shivananda Sen, Paramananda Puri, Murari Gupta, and many others. Every letter of these accounts is drenched with the nectar of devotion. The sincere seeker will never be able to enter the transcendental kingdom nor to advance in the devotional life unless they also discover this delight.
Vedanta is often equated exclusively to Advaita Vedanta of Sri Sankaracharya, but there are several other acharyas who have expounded the Vedanta in quite a different way and whose status as teachers of Vedanta requires recognition.This book by Swami Tapasyananda, a scholar-monk and former vice-president of the Ramakrishna Order, expounds the life and philosophy of Sri Chaitanya, whose illustrious disciples formed a distinctive set of metaphysics and theology around his teachings that came to be known as Acintya-bhedabheda philosophy. This book will help readers acquaint themselves with his devotional life and the fundamental concepts of Vedanta as formulated by his disciples based on his teachings.
A sensitive, moving and deeply researched telling of Sri Chaitanya's life In this beautifully written, lovingly evoked book, acclaimed author Chitrita Banerji brings alive one of our greatest medieval saints Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Nabadwip, Bengal. A mystic who believed in love over ideology, song and dance over ritual, and who revolutionized religion in Bengal, Chaitanya is one of the few medieval religious figures who is worshipped even today through the ISKCON movement. Banerji draws a superb picture of the world he came from, the food he ate, his friendships and family ties alongside his extraordinary life in this biography.
On Speaking Strongly in Srila Prabhupada s Service was written for the perusal of all members of Srila Prabhupada s ISKCON, especially for devotees who feel impelled to follow Srila Prabhupada s example of preaching Krsna s message in a strong, clear, provocative manner. Speaking Strongly is particularly for those who maintain Srila Prabhupada s vision of ISKCON as a revolutionary movement with a mission to change society, to rouse people to think about life s important questions, and to get them to embrace the only permanent solution to life s problems: Krishna consciousness. In Speaking Strongly, Bhakti Vikasa Swami submits hundreds of quotes wherein Srila Prabhupada indicates that his followers should speak strongly for the benefit of the world and not shy away from embracing the uncompromising, realistic style of sastra, which presents not vague notions such as spreading-love, but solutions to the undeniable problems of material existence, and is especially relevant to the disastrous condition of human society today. Taking a holistic and practical approach, Bhakti Vikasa Swami carefully examines the pros and cons of speaking strongly under various circumstances.. Drawing on almost fourty years of personal experience, the author discusses issues such as: - Who is qualified to speak strongly? - When should strong speech be used? - Is the strong preacher a fanatic? - Is strong speaking contrary to humility? - When and how should tact be employed? The ultimate merit of On Speaking Strongly in Srila Prabhupada s Service is that it reminds the reader of what ISKCON is supposed to be a distinct, vital spiritual movement and offers a philosophical basis from which to help restore ISKCON to its original glory."
