Book Series Collections > Reflections on Sacred Teachings Series
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Reflections on Sacred Teachings
Volume One: Sri Siksastaka
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Explore Timeless Wisdom
"Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructed His disciples to write books on the science of Krishna, a task which those who follow Him have continued to carry out down to the present day. The elaborations and expositions on the philosophy taught by Lord Caitanya are in fact most voluminous, exacting and consistent due to the system of disciplic succession. Although Lord Caitanya was widely renowned as a scholar in His youth, He left only eight verses, called Siksastaka. These eight verses clearly reveal His mission and precepts."
-- His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
Nearly five hundred years after Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu walked amongst us, the Sri Siksastaka verses continue to lead all Vaisnavas ever deeper into the science and experience of pure, spontaneous and enveloping love of God.
His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami explores these verses from a contemporary perspective and helps modern devotees derive strength and realization from this timeless message, while reminding us of the important role we must play in carrying Lord Caitanya's legacy to future generations.
"O Govinda! Feeling Your separation, I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain and I am feeling all vacant in Your absence."
-- Sri Siksastaka 7
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Reflections on Sacred Teachings
Volume Two: Madhurya Kadambini
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The Sweetness of Devotion
The Bhakti Trilogy is one of the great works of Visvanatha Cakravarti and his first presentation is the Madhurya Kadambini. The word "kadambini" means a long bank of clouds that are showering madhurya, the sweetness of devotion. These clouds manifest over the environment to shower the madhurya and extinguish the blazing forest fire of material attraction and attachments. His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami explores these verses as a way of reminding the reader how such mentors and their teachings, although ancient, are as relevant now as they were in the past. Let the madhurya, the sweetness of devotion, shower us all as we take shelter of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura's unlimited mercy.
"Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti has given us a detailed analysis of the obstructions to our individual and collective devotional service. He has given us a sublime outline of the stages of progress up to prema [ecstatic love of God]. Now the challenge is before each of us to fully use what he has given us. How blessed we all are to receive this opportunity through the blueprints given by such great acaryas, to facilitate us in returning back to the realm of pure, enchanting, enduring and animated love. "
-- Excerpt from Reflections on Sacred Teachings Vol. 2
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Reflections on Sacred Teachings
Volume Three: Harinama Cintamani
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$14.95 soft cover
The Holy Name is the Key
"Sri Harinama Cintamani is the extraordinary conversation between the Supreme Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His devotee Srila Haridasa Thakura on the potency and efficacy of the holy name. His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami, a devout spiritual teacher in the Vaisnava line, leads us through the Sri Harinama Cintamani step-by-step, and enables us to hold onto the key of the holy name, unlocking the mysteries our own pure and effulgent qualities. Srila Haridasa explains that the holy name will reach out--in spite of all the barriers and formalities--to the person who grabs and holds onto it.
"In previous ages, a person could reach perfection through meditation, temple worship or yajnas but in Kali-yuga, we cannot even perform one of the nine-fold activities nicely. Although just one of these nine activities can result in full love of Godhead, we engage in all nine and still have problems. Fortunately Srila Haridasa reveals the holy name as a source of hope in spite of the constant challenges in this Kali-yuga"
-- Excerpts from Reflections on Sacred Teachings Vol. 3
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Reflections on Sacred Teachings
Volume Four: Sri Isopanisad
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$14.95 soft cover
Connect with the Original Personality of Godhead
"Sri Isopanisad is an ancient work. It is counted as the first of the 108 Upanisads, and is part of the Yajur Veda--amoung those literatures which are accepted by followers of Vedic tradition to have come from God Himself at the time of creation. As such it is, one could say, about as foundational a text as one could hope to find, anywhere, dealing with the most primeval and fundamental concepts of reality as we know it, presented in a context that is both timeless, in that it comes from the person who put time into motion, and simultaneously eternal."
-- His Holiness Bhakti Caitanya Swami
International GBC Chairman of ISKCON
"We cannot possibly capture reality based on our limited perceptions and insignificant power. Therefore, we want to use our intelligence to sustain the mind properly, in order to prevent it from being dragged under by the senses. We want to use our intelligence to open ourselves up to receiving divine intervention. We want to use our intelligence to truly understand how to become a genuine lover of the Lord."
-- Excerpt from Reflections on Sacred Teachings Vol. 4
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Reflections on Sacred Teachings
Volume Five: Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's Sixty-four Principles for Community
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$14.95 soft cover
Improve the Community Around You
"Some find it more peaceful to avoid interacting with others. However, we do not just want peace. We want realization, and the unfoldment of realization is not always a peaceful process. It is peaceful to be in ignorance; it is peaceful to be in denial; it is peaceful to avoid dealing with issues by living a cloistered lifestyle, but the real challenge arises when we have to interact with people because it tests our genuine level of realization.”
-- B.T. Swami
“Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura founded his Gaudiya Matha on sixty-four principles that outline a perfect and complete foundation for a spiritual society…
Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja has molded his life according to these sixty-four principles. Therefore, he is able to expertly guide the world towards the ultimate goal of life, not only by elaborating on them, but also by leading with his personal example.”
-- His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja
International GBC and ISKCON Guru
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Reflections on Sacred Teachings
Volume Six: Radha-Sunya: Missing Mercy
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$11.95 soft cover
Protect Your Devotional Creeper
Srimati Radharani is the hladini-sakti, the internal potency of Krishna. She is the mother of devotion, the topmost devotee, and therefore the overseer of the entire province of bhakti. Thus, aparadha means becoming devoid of Radharani by creating a situation by which the blessings, the mercy, the protection, and the benediction of the divine caretaker of bhakti is absent.
"This sixth volume of commentary shines a spotlight on the central tenet of Vaisnava character—service to others— as described in Indic texts such as the Padma Purana and Narada-panacaratra and in medieval works such as Caitanya-caritamrta and writings of the Gosvamis of Vrndavana. These texts differentiate Salvationists, whose primary interest is their own safety, from Vaisnavas who place higher value on the well-being of others. Effective spiritualists honor God within their own hearts and the hearts of others—a gesture that energizes rather than dampens enthusiasm and initiative.
In his calm yet unambiguous style, Bhakti Tirtha Swami sends his message out to devotees young and old. The spiritual world, he reminds us, is a place governed by respect, compassion, forgiveness, and love. It was a message he embodied in his too brief career and one that, if taken to heart, can transform a world at war to a world at peace."
-- Joshua M. Greene (Yogesvara dasa)
Author: Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison
