Sripad Bhakti Sudhir Goswami Maharaj (pictured left), in one of his talks on this day, spoke on how to see our participation in this Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama:

"When devotees were coming to Nabadwip, they asked Srila Guru Maharaj, 'What shall be my service?' Then, we can also say we want to do this Nabadwip Dham Parikrama in the mood of service. So what shall be our service? And the answer that Guru Maharaj gave those devotees is the same answer to this question. They thought he was going to give them something practical -- and of course we shall try to get some practical service -- but his answer surprised them. He said, 'Your service is to acquire the proper angle of vision.' That is what our service is in Krishna consciousness: to acquire the proper angle of vision. And that means, necessarily, to stop seeing things with these eyes, and start seeing through what we hear from the Guru, our Guru-varga, Bhaktivinod Thakur, Saraswati Thakur, Guru Maharaj, Gurudev. It is a way of becoming acquainted with reality...."

An extract from Sripad Goswami Maharaj's talk:

"We can see here Srila Prabhupad's crowning glory. From Srila Guru Maharaj we understand that the triumph of devotion is when the infinite comes under the control of the finite. This means although we're all supposed to be eternal servants of Krishna, real devotion on the highest level is shown when Krishna serves His devotee. Srila Guru Maharaj pointed out that Srila Prabhupad is the ultimate example of self-sacrifice to the extreme. We know that he could have happily spent his final days at the Radha Damodar Temple at the samadhi of Srila Rupa Goswami in Vrindavan.

"In Srila Guru Maharaj's sloka glorifying Srila Saraswati Thakur, in the last line he says 'Vilasatu hrdi nityam Bhaktisiddhanta vani, may the vani of Srila Saraswati Thakur play in my heart eternally.' So it's the vani of Srila Saraswati Thakur: in his final days he said, although they were successful in India, they did not take it to America, and by extension the rest of the world. So Srila Prabhupad could hear that divine vani of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur playing in his heart.

"He says that once when he was preparing his commentary on Bhagavad-gita, specifically a sloka: vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana, he talks about the order of the Guru becoming synonymous with the devotee's reason for being, for living. Srila Guru Maharaj is always telling us the Hegelian slogan 'Die to live' if we want to ascend to a higher plane of devotion. So Srila Prabhupad personifies this 'Die to live' understanding.

"Against the advice of wellwishers, he risked his life to leave Vrindavan, to take the Krishna consciousness movement to America. And we know that along the way he suffered a heart attack in the middle of the ocean. In other words, he put his life on the line to execute the order of Srila Saraswati Thakur. And Guru Maharaj said, at that point some divine power descended and began to work on his behalf. This is the point where the finite conquered the infinite. The devotional mood in Srila Prabhupad's heart conquered Krishna...."

Sripad Goswami Maharaj gave an extensive, informal talk here:

"Srila Guru Maharaj translates Svarup Damodar's Radha bhava dyuti subalitum naumi Krsna Svarupam: that Krishna has taken the heart and halo of Radharani and appeared as Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

"Once Guru Maharaj, when he was talking about the quality of Krishna-nama, said just try and conceive what is the voltage in the Krishna-nama of Srimati Radharani -- when She is taking Krishna-nama. So the Supreme Positive Krishna has adopted the role of the Supreme Negative, and He is madly searching Himself. He is experiencing firsthand what it is like to be a devotee of Krishna. What sort of ecstatic joy and taste can come from singing His own Name.

"Everyone in the world is mad to taste sweetness, but according to Srila Guru Maharaj, in this case, sweetness is tasting itself and becoming mad in the process. We just sang in the Temple room one sloka from the Prema dhama deva stotram. In the last line it says, Krsna-nama sidhu dhama dhanya dana sagaram. Krishna-nama, what is it? Sidhu-dhama: it is the abode of all nectarean substances -- the very Name of Krishna. Dhanya dana sagaram. And the gift of Krishna-nama, this is: Mahaprabhu descends in this world, and He's relishing Krishna-nama but in the process of Nama-sankirtan He's extending it to everyone else, including us. He is singing the glories of Krishna-nama Himself through Nama-sankirtan, and then in His final years concentrating on the exclusive wealth possessed in the heart of Srimati Radharani Herself.

"Remember: Krishna is already Reality the Beautiful, but when His heart becomes enriched with the devotion of Srimati Radharani, inconceivably Gauranga Mahaprabhu is even more beautiful...."

From Sripad B.P. Janardan Maharaj's talk at the samadhi of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur:

"We are always remembering the divine Pastimes of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, who came to fulfill the desire of Sri Bhaktivinod Thakur.... When Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur came he purified Mahaprabhu's divine preaching mission, but to continue his work he prayed for the appearance of a divine ray of Vishnu -- that the Lord would come. And in Jagannath Puri, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur appeared, where Mahaprabhu had disappeared.

"Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur created a revolutionary army for spreading Mahaprabhu's mission all over the world, whereas Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur worked within the structure of the existing society. Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj has described that everything that Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur did was of a revolutionary and very radical nature.... Guru Maharaj stated that he declared totalitarian war against maya; he was not a conformist with any so-called existing conceptions of religion, but was only interested in establishing the jiva's divine relationship with the Lord. When someone asked if he wanted to establish a Temple in every town and village he said no, he wanted to establish that every single person would be a Temple of the Lord...."