Discerning The True Sentiments of The Soul

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Out of his immense compassion for all souls wandering in this world, Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja took his divine birth in 1921, in the village Tiwaripura, near the banks of the sacred river Ganges in the state of Bihar, India. He performed human – like pastimes here, to set the perfect example for all those desiring true spiritual life.

In 1946 he surrendered himself com pletely at the lotus feet of this spiritual master, Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja. For almost fifty years he travelled throughout India, inspiring tens of thousands of people by his own example and by his precepts. In 1996 he began to travel abroad, continuing to bring the light and joy of the truly merciful spiritual lineage of Gaudiya Vaisnavism to the far reaches of this world.

He also translated and wrote profound commentaries on nearly sixty sacred texts which now serve to inspire all sincere spiritual aspirants, and his devoted followers have been translating them into the major languages of the world.

On December 29, 2010 he concluded his pastimes in this world, in Sri Puridhama, leaving us bereft of his physical presence. His jewel – like world, in Sri Puridhama, leaving us bereft of his physical presence. His jewel – like teachings, however, are eternal, and will continue to shine like a radiant beacon to guide all on the path of pure devotion.

Discerning the True Sentiments of soul is a revised and enlarged edition of the booklet Gaudiya Vaisnavism Versus Sahajiyaism, published in 1999. At that time our Srila Gurudea, Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja, had given only the first two of the these discourses in the West. Years later he gave only the first two of these discourses in the West. Years later he gave related discourses, and we have added them to this publication in order to complete his exposition of this matter. We also listened again to the audio recordings of the original two lectures and collaborated to make some editorial revisions.

In these discourses, Srila Guurudeva quoted many Sanskrit and Bengali verses. We have included their translations in brackets within the text. The translations are either by Srila Gorudeva or by our most revered Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja, who is famous throughout the world as Srila Prabhupada, and who is Srila Gurudeva's siksa – guru and close friend. An asterisk at the end of a translation indicates that it was done by Srila Prabhupada. Following the tradition of our spiritual preceptors, we use standard diacritical markings to indicate the pronunciation of the Sanskrit words. Pronounce a like a in rip, m and n like ng in hung s and s like sh in shy, and c like ch in chap.

In a few places, in order to further explain or establish certain points of siddhanta given in srila Gurudeva's lectures, we have also included quotes from Srila Prabhupada's Vedabase folio within the endnotes and appendix. You will be happy to note that there is also an abbreviated glossary of Sanskrit terms at the back of the book.

While compiling these discourses, we asked Srila Gurudeva, as well as his secretary, Sripada B.V Madhava Maharaja several questions in order to clarify some of the statements, and we have adjusted the body text accordingly.

It is only natural that since these lectures were given to different audiences in different places in different years, there was sometimes repetition of the same points. On a few occasions, while we were preparing some of Srila Gurudeva's lectures for publications on other themes, he had told us to remove instances of undue repetition. We have therefore followed his directive in this compilation.

Part I was spoken on June 27, 1997 at the ISKCON New Mayapura farm community in France: part II in Holland in the same year, on the auspicious Disappearance Day of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Gandhara Pandita; Part III on April 28, 1998, also in France; Part IV on June 10, 2001 in Holland; Part V in Murwillumbah, Australia, on December 3, 2002; and Part VI is comprised of two discourses given in Volgograd, Russia, on September 13, 2004 – why not Only One Book? Is and excerpt from the morning discourse on that day, and No part to disregard is from the evening discourse.

Finally, Part VII consists of excerpts from Srila Gurudeva's biography of his own diksa – Guru and beloved life and soul, Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja. In those sections of the biography, out of his immense compassion for sincere souls, Srila Gurudeva further elucidates the topic of true and false spiritual perfection.

Because and uttered an auspicious invocation at the beginning of each of his discourses in order to invoke blessings upon his audiences, we have included those prayers at the beginning of this book. We pray that you, our respected readers, will receive spiritual nourishment by reading these discourses. Despite our best efforts, we may make some mistakes in presenting Srila Gurudeva's works. We invite you to assist in correcting any errors for the next print run.

First, we offer our unlimited obeisances to our most worshipful Gurudeva, nitya – lila pravista om visnupada Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami maharaja. For the spiritual upliftment of all souls in this world, he travelled the globe over thirty times, teaching the path of spiritual perfection – the practice of pure bhakti – yoga. We feel greatly honoured to present herein a few of his discourses, which illuminate key elements of that practice.

These discourses clarify this bona fide path of the awakening of the full potential of the soul in a loving relationship with the Supreme Soul, Sri Krsna. Removal of obstructions on the path of that immaculate divine love by the causeless mercy of Sri Guru opens the heart and allows that love to enter there. With this in mind, Srila Gurudeva also discussed those conceptions that are unfavourable for spiritual evolution. In particular, he focused on what he described as the widely spreading disease of sahajiyaism, a cheap imitation of spiritual realization that robs its followers of their true spiritual welfare.

For many of you, Discerning the True Sentiments of the Soul is your first book on bhakti, or one of your first. For your ease of understanding, we have defined two important terms that serve as the essential basis of its contents, namely Gaudiya Vaisnavism and sahajiyaism.