A must listen to, in this latest of Yogamaya New York’s Sat-Sanga series, Srila Dhanurdhara Swami gives a lively and enlightening talk on the Yoga of Forgiveness – how forgiveness is an integral part of one’s spiritual life. Maharaja relates forgiveness to the concepts of ahimsa, dharma, and karma as well as giving practical methods to explore forgiveness in our own lives.
The following is a class Srila Dhanurdhara Swami recently gave in Christchurch, New Zealand, entitled “Compassion and the Symptom of the Soul,” based on a passage from the seventh canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, where Prahlada pacifies Lord Nrsimhadeva with his prayers.
yat prāpya na kiñcid vāñchati na śocati na dveṣṭi na ramate notsāhī bhavati
Achieving it, desire and regret, repulsion and attraction, such fervors are no more.
After describing in the previous verse that upon attaining Divine Love one is fully satisfied, Sri Narada now describes the result: “All fervors are no more.”
All passions are naturally caused by a sense of lacking within. And although we seek to fill that void with the passions of wealth, romance, and adoration, we remain unfulfilled because we have failed to realize what is our actual deficiency. Our real need is selfless love. Without it no one, even those at the height of power and opulence, can claim that their deepest yearnings have been fulfilled. On the other hand, if one is filled with selfless love, what more can anyone desire? That is the crux of Sri Narada’s message here in text five.
On Saturday, September 22, 2012, the appearance day of Srimati Radharani, Dhanurdhara Swami shared his realizations about Srimati Radharani at the Bhakti Center in New York.
The following is a recording of Dhanurdhara Swami’s lecture given on Tuesday, September 25, 2012, at the Bhakti Center in New York, entitled The Bhakti Story.
In The Bhakti Story, Dhanurdhara Swami narrates the first story from the classic 16th century work Brhad Bhagavatamrta, where the great saint Narada, at the famous Kumbha Mela gathering in India, begins his world search for the greatest bhakti-yogi.
Having attained divine love, a person becomes perfect, immortal and satisfied.
The first three verses introduced the subject of bhakti. In the next three verses, beginning here with text four, Sri Narada describes the effect of such divine love on the soul.
First he says that by it one becomes perfect. To understand why this is so, one must understand what dharma is. Dharma means duty. It also means essential nature, for unless we understand what we are made for (our essential, intrinsic nature), how can we understand what we are meant to do (our dharma or duty)? According to the bhakti tradition, the soul is part of the supreme consciousness. As all parts are meant to serve the whole, the dharma of the soul is bhakti — to selflessly serve God.
During August 23-26, 2012, dozens joined Dhanurdhara Swami, Raghunatha, and Visvambhar and Vrinda Devi for a weekend of sat sanga, meditation, kirtan, and yoga at the Pumpkin Hollow Retreat Center in Craryville, New York.
The following pictures are just a glimpse of the activities that took place.
Krishna-lila: How to Relish and Understand the Krishna Story
On August 14, 2012, Srila Dhanurdhara Swami gave a lecture entitled Krishna-lila: How to Relish and Understand the Krishna Story at The Bhakti Center in New York. The following is a recording of that talk.
On August 11, 2012, Srila Dhanurdhara Swami gave a lecture entitled The Bewilderment of Lord Brahma on the final day of a three day Sri Krishna Janmastami festival at The Bhakti Center in New York. The following is a recording of that talk.
Waves of Devotion is the personal site of Dhanurdhara Swami. Here Dhanurdhara Swami shares his personal insights on the devotional process of bhakti-yoga.
