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Gaura Purnima I speak to

March 9th, 2001

Gaura Purnima

I speak to a few devotees in my room about the reason for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance focusing on the necessity for the Supreme Lord’s eternal manifestations as His own best devotee in terms of God’s ontological position as the Supreme Person.

I revise and finalize my mission statement for the New Year:

My service and mood should always be pleasing to my Lordships Sri Giriraja Maharaja and Sri Sri Radha-Shyamasundar by being an object of pleasure for Their dearmost servants, Srila Prabhupada and all of my siksa-gurus. For their pleasure, I should sincerely and devotionally execute:

  1. Strong sadhana
  2. Effective service to Srila Prabhupada’s mission
  3. Exemplary Vaishnava behavior

I. My SADHANA will please Srila Prabhupada and the Vaishnavas when I:

  • develop deep attachment to the holy name.
  • worship Sri Giriraja Maharaja with love and devotion.
  • serve the Vaishnavas with care and humility.
  • hear Srimad-Bhagavatam with sincere respect, rapt attention, clear understanding, and deep relish.
  • reside in Vraja as a Gosvami, detached and without offense (physically or in the mind).

II. I should please my spiritual masters by EFFECTIVE SERVICE TO SRILA PRABHUPADA’S MISSION, which is to:

  • set an example as an ideal sannyasi, following in the footsteps of the six Gosvamis; always chanting; kind to everyone; expert in scriptures; immersed in Gaura-Govinda lila; indifferent to sense gratification and absorbed in and attached to Vraja and its eternal residents.
  • to train others as Vaishnavas and followers of the six Gosvamis.
  • to thoroughly learn the Srimad-Bhagavatam and other bhakti-sastras to communicate them to others by lecturing, teaching, and writing.
  • to inspire competent devotees with a vision to spread Krishna consciousness and the means to actualize that vision.
  • to write my experiences and realizations in Krishna consciousness and share them with others.
  • to encourage, inspire, and support the development of a functional Vaishnava community among the devotees that I have trained in Krishna consciousness.

III. My VAISNAVA BEHAVIOR will be pleasing to Srila Prabhupada and the Vaishnavas when I am:

  • sincere; perform devotional for the pleasure of guru and Krishna without motive.
  • humble; do not act for desire or prestige.
  • compassionate; emphasize with the suffering of others and selflessly extend oneself to help them.
  • simple; to be satisfied with whatever Krishna provides to keep the body and soul together.
  • detached; be satisfied with Krishna?s will to the extent that I neither desire or give effort to change it, no matter how externally unpleasant the acceptance of his will is.
  • celibate; free from the eight types of sex life as described by Yajnavalka.
  • efficient; to not waste a moment in Krishna’s service.

Gaura Purnima officially begins the Vaishnava year. I hope to accelerate my spiritual advancement this year and make some pleasing offering of service to Srila Prabhupada. I would be na?ve, however, to not expect some difficulties. I reflect on the obstacles I?ve had to face in devotional service over the last few years and come upon a nice statement that succinctly sums up the theist approach to calamity:

?We cannot lose once we realize that everything that happens to us has been designed to teach us holiness.? (Holiness; Donald Nichols)

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