25 May 2024 midday – How to Awaken Bhakti in the Heart (English) – Elven, France | Srila BV Vana Maharaja

  • What the Scriptures say about the difference between brahmana and sudra.
  • By practising karma, yoga, tapasya it is not possible to achieve suddha-bhakti.
  • Little by little the heart is purified by listening to harikatha, chanting the Holy Names, doing kirtana and other spiritual practices.
  • About self-realisation (atma-buddhi).
  • The meaning of a miserable, petty person.
  • The story of the rich boy who went to see an astrologer.
  • The main cause of the emergence of bhakti is sadhu-sanga.
  • Bhakti-yoga means serving the Lord, and this mood already exists naturally within the hearts of all beings.
  • Worldly services should be directed to Krsna.
  • If you do things for your own pleasure, it is karma. If you do things for the pleasure of Guru and Krsna, it is bhakti.
  • Lila by Rupa Manjari massaging Krsna’s lotus feet.
  • Radha-carana-seva: the desire to serve the lotus feet of Srimati Radhika, this is something extremely rare.
  • Learn this Sloka: śrī-rūpa-mañjari-karārcita-pāda-padma… (Vilapa-kusumanjali, 72).
  • Sloka: kṛṣṇa-bhakti-janma-mūla haya ‘sādhu-saṅga’… (CC Madhya 22.83).
  • Abandon bad association and always associate with sadhus.
  • Story of the brahmana who worshipped Lord Siva and met Sanatana Gosvami.
  • What is inferior is automatically abandoned when acquiring something of greater value. Example of money notes.
  • The sadhu, through his association, delivers that which is most valuable: krsna-bhakti, krsna-prema.
  • Srila Gurudeva says that he has been to Las Vegas twice and what that place is like in terms of betting and the desire to get more and more money.
  • Example of ghee that is inside the milk but we cannot see it. The power is within the heart but we need to awaken it.