All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga!
Dear devotees and friends,
Please join the devotees in Soquel and San Jose on Thursday, November 8th for the grand celebration of the Appearance festival of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math Founder-Acharya Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Srila Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaj has returned from India and will lead the festivities.
Thursday at 6 pm in Soquel
5:30 pm in San Jose
November 8, 2012
devam divya-tanum suchanda-vadanam
balarka-celancitam
sandrananda-puram sad-eka-varanam
vairagya-vidyambudhim
sri-siddhanta-nidhim subhakti-lasitam
sarasvatanam-varam
vande tam subhadam mad-eka-saranam
nyasisvaram sridharam
“I fall at the feet of Srila Sridhar Dev, who with charming expression sings his songs of sweet nectar. Dressed in fine garments like the newly-risen sun, he is the true saint, the devotees have chosen. His detachment and knowledge are just like an ocean, the treasure-house of complete, perfect conclusions. Radiant in pastimes of loving devotion, the abode of pure ecstasy, bestower of good fortune; foremost true follower of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta, foremost great general of the whole renounced order, my lord and my master, my only shelter, I worship his feet, Srila Sridhar Dev.”
(Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj)
Also, please note the following upcoming dates (which are posted on the Seva Ashram News homepage and in the Vaishnava Calendar online here):
November 9, 2012 – Ekadasi
November 14, 2012 – Sri Govardhan-puja
November 17, 2012 – Disappearance of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad
November 23, 2012 – Ekadasi
Yours in the Lord’s service,
Sushila devi dasi
If you would like to learn more about Srila Sridhar Maharaj you can read his pranam mantram and a brief biography here.
The following is an excerpt from His Divine Grace’s biography:
…In 1926, Srila Sridhar Maharaj joined the Sri Gaudiya Math, and became an initiated disciple of its founder, the illustrious Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Goswami Prabhupad (1874-1937). He later accepted the holy order of sannyasa (monkhood) in 1930. Recognizing him as a faithful stalwart preacher of the perfect precepts of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad conferred upon him the name “Sri Bhakti Rakshak,” which means “Guardian of Devotion.” Further echoing the statement of the great Vaishnava Preceptor, Srila Jiva Goswami–who referred in his Sanskrit writings to the renowned Srimad Bhagavatam commentator, Sri Sridhar Swami, as bhakti eka raksaka (Supreme Guardian of Devotion)–Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad gave him the tridandi-sannyas title of “Sridhar.” Thus, he became Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaj…
Upon reaching his eighties, not only Indians, but persons from America, Europe, and the world over, became attracted by Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s teachings and personality. He was known as a pure saint of the most simple living habits. He was respected and loved for his saintly simplicity, and his affectionate nature and dealings. He was revered by his Godbrothers, disciples, other devotees, and the general public, and was unanimously venerated for his formidable encyclopedic command of the revealed scriptures, and his unique and unprecedented style of casting newer and newer light upon the most internal philosophical and revelatory purports of pure Sri Gaudiya Vaishnava siddhanta.
A vast library of Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s taped discourses has been compiled by his disciples, and from such recordings, the exquisite English books–Search for Sri Krishna, Sri Guru and His Grace, The Golden Volcano of Divine Love, Loving Search for the Lost Servant, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s unique commentary and interpretation of Srimad Bhagavad-gita: The Hidden Treasure of the Sweet Absolute–and many other books have been published….