A prayer composed by Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakur in glorification of Lord Jagannatha's maha-prasadam (sacred food offerings).

Taking shelter at the lotus feet of the pure devotees of the  Lord with respectful obeisances, I now will begin the brief  explanation of Navadvipa dhama and its glories.  The sacred land  of Navadvipa Mandala possesses unlimited transcendental glories  which even great demigods like Lord Brahma, Shiva and others  cannot fully comprehend.

Sri Hari is the only source of all knowledge. Sri Krishna with newly-formed cloud complexion, personified eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, may be described with the word Hari. Brahma, as described by the propounders of the Upanishads , is only an effulgence of the spiritual planetary systems of Sri Hari. He is not a different entity or aspect apart from Sri Krishna. The Supreme Soul or Paramatma, as depicted by the yogis, is part and parcel of Sri Hari, only under whose visual projection this vast universe was created by nature. Accordingly, Sri Hari is the only master and all others including even Brahma are His servants.

"I worship Sri Gauracandra [Lord Chaitanya] Who has revealed the path of wisdom. The Vedic scriptures are the only authority for knowledge of the ninefold aspects of wisdom, which are (1) Sri Hari is the only source of wisdom; (2) He is omnipotent; (3) H e is an ocean of bliss; (4) the living entities are His parts and parcels; (5) some of the living entities are conditioned by the material nature; (6) other living entities are liberated from material nature; (7) everything, including the jivas, is one an d different from Sri Hari; (8) unalloyed devotional service is the only means for the conditioned souls to go beyond this world of birth and death; (9) love for the Supreme Lord [prema] is the only goal."

ekah paro nanyah
agunopi sarvasaktirameyatvat
viruddha-samanyam tasminnacitram

"Sri Krishna is one without a second: He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although transcendental to material qualities, Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, possesses expansive, immense potencies inconceivable to mundane perception. Innumerable contradictory qualities simultaneously existing in Sri Krishna is nothing uncommon or wonderful."

ko'ham va kimidam visvabhavayoh ko'nvayoh dhruvam atmanam nivrto jivah prcchati jnanasiddhaye

"After many many lifetimes the living entity who is wise develops the following inquiries: Who am I? What is this material existence in reality? What is the actual relationship between me and this creation?"

Persons who worship the Lord out of stimulation of fear, bhaya, include those who are afraid of hell, poverty, pain, and death. Persons who worship the Lord to satisfy their material aspirations, asha, worship and pray with great intensity for material happiness and for the gain of greater material advancement. There is so much pure joy in the process of ishvara-sadhana, worship of the Lord, that although beginning their worship out of motivations of fear or desiring material aspirations, many eventually give up such motivated worship and become attached to shuddha-bhajana, pure worship of the Lord.

The shastras explain that a person who receives panca-samskara can practice two kinds of devotion and gain permanent happiness in the eternal abode of Sri Hari.

Persons who read this instruction with faith will want to understand the meaning of the expression panca-samskara. In order to help them, we will first explain the conventional understanding of the term and then give its deeper significance.