Rays of The Harmonist Study Group (starting in one week!)

In our Caitanya-bhāgavata reading this morning, we came across a beautiful verse from Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s Śoka-śātana (11.5):

vipada-sampade, sei dina bhālo,
ĵe dina tomāre smari
tomāra smaraṇa, rahita ĵe dina,
se dina vipada hari

Whether in prosperity or adversity, the day on which I remember You is truly auspicious. O Hari, the day without remembrance of You is full of misfortune.

To help bring us into the state of perpetual remembrance of the Lord, our guru-varga has mercifully written many articles and books. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda wrote in a letter:

"When you are on your own, you should always read the Gauḍīya [weekly magazine] and the devotional literatures written by other Vaiṣṇavas. This will, in itself, enable you to reap the benefit of listening to harikathā from the lips of the devotees. … While living on this earth, we do not get the direct association of many devotees from the transcendental realm. But because the conversations and pastimes of the devotees who were present during the manifest pastimes of Śrīman Mahāprabhu perpetually exist in the form of sacred texts (granthas) and sound vibration (śabda), or words, we do not feel so much pain in our worldly troubles. If we live in this world in the midst of the discussion and message of the transcendental world, our reflections on that message will keep us aloof from worldly pain. No matter where you find yourself, that divine harikathā will never abandon you."

Personally, I've found that in the absence of like-minded and uplifting company, nothing nourishes and inspires me to begin following the path laid out by our guru-varga more than their potent articles. Each article contains a complete package of the most vital points that they want us to grasp. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda and his associates invested a significant amount of time and energy into writing these articles for us.

In anticipation of the upcoming grand celebration of the 150th Vyāsa-pūjā of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, which is just over a week away, we are pleased to introduce the "Rays of The Harmonist Study Group."

In this program, every month, we will read and discuss 3–4 articles by our guru-varga that were published in the printed issues of Rays of The Harmonist. In this way, we can extend our celebration of Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vyāsa-pūjā beyond the days surrounding this auspicious tithi into the years ahead.

Program Format

• The day before our scheduled reading, I will send out the selected article for everyone to read on their own.
• The following day, we will convene on Zoom and YouTube to collectively read and discuss the article.

Scheduled Readings and Timing:

• Every Śukla Ekādaśī: Article by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• Every Kṛṣṇa Pañcamī: Article by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda
• Every Kṛṣṇa Ekādaśī: Article by Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja
• Some Kṛṣṇa Dvādaśīs: Article by another one of the disciples of Prabhupāda Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura

The reading sessions will commence on February 29 at 7 AM India time. (Find the corresponding times in different time zones at the bottom of the page.)

To stay updated on our reading schedule, you can subscribe to the Google calendar and WhatsApp group:

In the above WhatsApp group, I will post the Zoom and YouTube links along with any necessary announcements. But for those interested in sharing insights, quotes, and highlights pertinent to whatever article happen to be reading, I've made a separate community discussion WhatsApp group:

Future plans

Rays of The Harmonist study program next year

After concluding our readings of all the Rays of The Harmonist articles by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, and Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Mahārāja, which I think will happen by the end of next year, we will begin reading the articles by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Trivikrama Gosvāmī Mahārāja, and Śrīla Gurudeva Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja.

Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata and the songs of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura

In our daily Caitanya-bhāgavata readings, we currently have only three chapters left in Madhya-khaṇḍa, and we aim to conclude it on February 26, just before the 126th Vyāsa-pūjā festival of Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. Following this, we will spend a few days reading about Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda in honor of his grand 150th Vyāsa-pūjā festival. After that, we will commence our daily readings of Caitanya-bhāgavata, Antya-khaṇḍa, which will take approximately 37 days (although we'll pause for eight days during Navadvīpa parikramā).

We began our Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata program on the appearance day of Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura last year, so I am arranging the readings with the aim that our concluding session will take place on his disappearance day on May 3.

Five days after Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura's disappearance day, on the appearance day of Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita (May 8), we will embark on our daily program to explore every song composed by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. I'll share more details on that later.

As with all our programs, I like to keep the format flexible so that we can easily adjust according to whatever works best for everyone. So if you have any ideas or feedback, please write them the comments below.

Looking forward to going through these articles with you!

All glories to jagad-guru Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda and all the illustrious generals in his line!

Aspiring to please Śrīla Gurudeva and the Vaiṣṇavas,
Madhukar das