Address to Indian Association

Glorifying Sankirtana Movement Before Indian Association

📅 May 11, 1969 📍 Columbus ⏱ 50 min
The sankirtana movement is not sentimental but deeply philosophical, universally accessible to all regardless of birth or learning.
Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca

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Address to Indian Association — May 11, 1969, Columbus 690511AD-COLUMBUS [50:12 Minutes] Address_690511AD-COLUMBUS Prabhupāda: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam [Cc. Antya 20.12] [“’Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.’] All glories to the saṅkīrtana movement. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, five hundred years ago in Navadvīpa, at the age of sixteen years only, a boy of sixteen years, He introduced this movement, saṅkīrtana movement. Not that He manufactured some religious system.

Just like nowadays there are so many religious system have been manufactured. Actually, religion cannot be manufactured. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam [SB 6.3.19]. [Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṇas.] Religion means the codes of God, the laws of God. That's all. Just like you cannot live without obeying the state laws, similarly, you cannot live without obeying the laws of God. And in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati [Bg. 4.7] [Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.] "Whenever there is discrepancies in the process of religious..., prosecution of religious activities," yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati, abhyutthānam adharmasya, "and there is predominance of irreligious activities," tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham, "at that time," Kṛṣṇa, the Lord, says that "I appear." That is the way. The same principle.

Just like as soon as there is disobedience of state laws, there is advent of some particular state officer or the governor or the state man to take step and to set things right. That is the way. So Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is worshiped by the Gosvāmīns, and there is a verse written by Rūpa Gosvāmī, one of His principal disciple. There were six Gosvāmīns: Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī and Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. All of them were Gosvāmīns. Gosvāmīns means...

Go means senses. There are three meanings of go. Go means land; go means cow; go means senses. So gosvāmī...

They were gosvāmī means they were master of the senses. Svāmī. Svāmī or gosvāmī, the same category. Gosvāmī is more explained.

Svāmī, svāmī means master. So when one becomes master of the senses, gosvāmī, he can make progress in the spiritual life. That is the meaning of svāmī. Svāmī does not mean that he is servant of the senses. Svāmī means master of the senses, gosvāmī.

So they were all gosvāmīs, and one of the gosvāmīs, Rūpa Gosvāmī, he was the head. So he compiled one nice verse in respect of honoring Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He says, anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau samarpayitum unnatojvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandīpitaḥ sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ śacī-nandana [Cc. Ādi 1.4] [May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Śrīmatī Śacī-devī be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love.] He is blessing the people in general that "This incarnation of God, Kṛṣṇa..." Anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau.

ChantingKrishna ConsciousnessSankirtanaBhaktiDevotional ServiceSpiritual Master
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