Madhurya Kadambini (A Cloud Bank of Nectar)

Language: EnglishPages: 476About The BookThis timeless classic, composed in Sanskrit in the seventeenth century, gives a compelling description of the stages of spiritual progress, likened to the flourishing of a beautiful vine.What do we, as spiritual practitioners, experience as the vine of devotion blossoms? How do our dealings with others, our attitudes and our behaviour affect its development? How can we assess and enhance its growth?Citing verses from Vedic antiquity, Madhurya-kadambini answers these and other questions with unparalleled clarity,insight and beauty.Many leaves now now suddenly manifest on this vine, expanding its beauty at every moment and causing the flower of pure spiritual emotion (bhava) to blossom to its ultimate potential and bear the fruit of rapturous love of God (prema).About The AuthorSri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja dedicated his life to widely sharing the hidden jewels of bhakti-yoga. He often lectured on Madhurya-kadambini for weeks at a time, clarifying the stages of spiritual progress and inspiring in his listeners an eagerness to experience the increasingly blissful nature of bhakti, the soul’s rightful claim.In an extemplary 89-year lifetime of devotion, he tirelessly rendered leading authoritative works on bhakti into Hindi as requested by his gurudeva, carefully elucidating their meaning. The Sanskrit writings and commentaries of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura comprise more than one dozen of these translations.IntroductionIt brings me boundless joy that today, by the causeless mercy and inspiration of my most worshipful gurupada-padma, nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada astottara-sata-sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava