Shri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja Teachings

🌞 *_Gaura-Priya-Jana Dissipating Darkness Today_* 🌞 *✨The Characteristics of a Vaiṣṇava ✨* Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhu in Bhakti-sandarbha quotes Padma Purāṇa: _teṣāṁ pūjādikaṁ gandha-_ _dhūpādhyaiḥ kriyate naraiḥ_ _tena pritiṁ parāṁ yāmi_ _na tathā mama pūjanāt_ (Padma-purāṇa, Kārttika-māhātmya quoted in Bhakti-sandarbha 269.12) The Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa said, "One may offer pūjā, worship, to Me with gandha, scents, puṣpa, flowers, incense and lamp, but if they never offer worship to My dear devotees with all these paraphernalia, I am not pleased with it." Kṛṣṇa said to Uddhava: _ādaraḥ paricaryāyāṁ_ _sarvāṅgair abhivandanam_ _mad-bhakta-pūjābhyadhikā_ _sarva-bhūteṣu man-matiḥ_ _mad-artheṣv anga-ceṣṭā ca_ _vacasā mad-guṇeraṇam_ _mayy arpaṇaṁ ca manasaḥ_ _sarva-kāma-vivarjanam_ "My dear devotees render service to Me with great care and respect. They offer obeisances to Me with all their bodily limbs. They worship My devotees, which is greater than worship of Me. They see all living entities related to Me. They engage the entire energy of their bodies for Me. They engage their power of speech in glorification of My qualities and form. They dedicate their minds unto Me and reject all material desires. Thus My dear devotees are characterised." (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 11.19.21-22) These are Vaiṣṇavas. Kṛṣṇa has said, "Mad-bhakta-pūjābhyadhikā, the worship offered to them is better than worship offered to Me directly." That worship is Vyāsa-pūjā, the pūjā of all pure gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-ācāryas. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda expressed this at his Vyāsa-pūjā. Without the pūjā, the worship, of such gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-ācāryas, gurus, mahanta-gurus, and without their mercy, no one can understand the Gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-siddhānta. ---------------------------------------- Book Name: *The Meaning of Vyāsa-pūjā* _Tattva Vicāra Publications_ _(From the work of Śrī Śrīmad Gour Govinda Svāmī Mahārāja)_