Free E-mail Mini-magazine

April 25, 2003

Free Email Mini-magazine

Bindu is a bi-weekly email magazine which comes out every ekadasi. Like the bigger Sri Krishna-kathamrta magazine it is designed for those who want to go deep into the pastimes, philosophy, literature and history of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Bindu will feature regular articles from previous acaryas such as Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada, Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode, Viswanath Chakravarti, and Rupa Goswami etc., as well as new translations, research findings and contemporary articles. Also featured will be excerpts from the lectures of Srila Gour Govinda Swami.

Bindu is presented in "Pdf" format and can be read by Adobe Acrobat Reader. To download your free copy of Acrobat reader click below. To , send an email to minimag@gopaljiu.org and type the word "Subscribe" in the subject line, or click below (may not work in all browsers)..

May 11, 2003

In 1994 Srila Gour Govinda Swami gave the title Sri Krishna Kathamrita for the magazine he wanted us to produce from here in Bhubaneswar. In 1977, when Srila Prabhupada visited Bhubaneswar, he gave many personal instructions to Gour Govinda Maharaja, one of which was that he wanted him to preach to and help the devotees. This was an instruction that Gour Govinda Maharaja took to heart. He wanted to preach to the preachers, to inspire them to continue strongly pushing on Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's movement. He often expressed how concerned he was to see devotees falling away from the practices of Krishna consciousness. He wanted to show how everything was in Srila Prabhupada's books. He wanted to encourage devotees to become more serious and to go deeper into the practices and philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. He was very concerned to, in his words, "uphold the prestige of Srila Prabhupada's movement". He said that the best way to do this was, "by propagating pure krsna-katha and by having nice dealings amongst the devotees".

Sri Krishna Kathamrita Magazine and it's mini email version, Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu, are our humble attempt to serve Srila Prabhupada, Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja, and all of the vaishnavas in the above ways.

From the teachings of Srila Gour Govinda Swami we find the following meanings for "Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu":

1. The word "sri" means "sobha" (beauty), "sampada" (transcendental wealth or asset), and "srestha" (the topmost). "Krishna" comes from the word "karsate" (all-attractive). So one meaning of "Sri Krishna-katha" is "those beautiful, topmost transcendentally valuable words, which are all-attractive because they pertain to topics of the beloved son of the king of Vraja".

2. "Sri" also means "sarva-laksmi-mayi-amsini-radhika" (Srimati Radhika, the source of all saktis). So, in that sense, "Sri Krishna-katha" refers to the topics of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna.

3. Since Radha and Krishna have come in a combined form in Kali-yuga as the son of Mother Saci, "Sri Krishna-katha" refers to the topics of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

4. And, since the Lord is never separated from His devotees, "Sri Krishna-kathamrita" also refers to topics of the lives and teachings of Krishna’s dear devotees.

However, such topics are not just Sri Krishna-katha, they are Sri Krishna-katha-amrita. "Amrita" means "nectar", or "something very tasty". Another meaning comes from the word, "mrityu", death. Adding the prefix "a-" in front of "mrityu" it becomes "amrita", or "that nectar which frees one from birth, old age, disease and death".

The word "amrita" may also be used to refer to the nectar obtained from the churning of the ocean of milk, which was given to the devas by Mohini Murti. That amrita can fantastically extend one's life span. However, the Uttara Khanda of Padma Purana describes that when Sukadev Goswami was about to recite Srimad Bhagavatam the devas heard about the recitation. Eager to benefit from the transcendental Krishna-katha coming from the lips of Sukadev Goswami, the devas came to that place and offered to trade some of their amrita in exchange for the krishna-kathamrita coming from Sukadev Goswami. Sukadev Goswami refused, saying that it was not at all a fair exchange. While the amrita of the gods can enable one to live for thousands of years, the nature of Krishna-kathamrita is that it will free one eternally from the bondage of birth and death and give one the highest nectarean taste, ecstatic love of Krishna.

Finally, "bindu" means drop. This magazine is called "Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu" because it is just a drop of the nectarean ocean of ecstatic topics of Sri Krishna. Although we are the editors of this journal, we are very unfortunate that we are only standing on the edge of that ocean and are unable to enter into it. So we are praying for the blessings of those devotees who are happily sporting about in the waves of that ocean that they may one day grant us entry.