Bhaktivinoda-gīti-dhārā and Beyond: Latest Updates from Navadvīpa

I'm back in Navadvīpa and settling into my regular routine. Since it's been a while, I wanted to share a quick update about what's happening in my life, our online programs, and the new edition of Śrī Gauḍīya Gīti-guccha.

Life

We have exciting news at Śrī Sajjana-sevaka Gauḍīya Maṭha – a new addition to our family! Subal Sakha Brahmacārī named her Maṅgalā. She's the sweetest thing!

Despite her small size, she has quite the appetite – eating as much as any large cow! (We think she definitely has worms 😬)

My parents arrive here tomorrow, and I'm particularly excited about this winter because many friends from New Braj who I grew up with are coming to Mayapur soon!

Our Online Programs

While the songbook remains my primary focus right now, I've found that our online readings and study groups actually help me maintain the right focused mindset for working on the songbook – when I skip them, something feels missing. So even though I mentioned a while ago that I'd restart these programs once we send the songbook to the printers, I just couldn't wait any longer.

I had planned to resume the Bhaktivinoda-gīti-dhārā program today. But instead, at the last minute, I decided to start reading twelve articles by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura on verses two and three of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī's Upadeśāmṛta, which relate to our upcoming songs when we restart the program. This morning we read his article on topic of Atyāhāra: Overeating or Over-collecting. (Watch it here.)

We've completed Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s songs on the six limbs of surrender, and soon we'll begin the next section of his Śaraṇāgati: Bhajana-lālasā (hankering to perform bhajana). This section comprises prayers for implementing the instructions of Upadeśāmṛta's first eight verses in one's life.

I'm considering adding Upadeśāmṛta memorization sessions after each song. We'd do complete practice sessions to ensure you understand each word's meaning and have the verse mostly memorized by the end. It'd be similar to how we did the Govardhana-vāsa-prārthanā-daśakam program. I asked who would be interested to memorize the verses in our Bhaktivinoda-gīti-dhārā WhatsApp group and here are the results:

So quite a few people are interested! Would you like to learn Upadeśāmṛta too? We'll start in about 12 days from now.

After Bhajana-lālasā, we have just a few songs left in Śaraṇāgati before moving on to Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s Kalyāṇa Kalpataru. I’m really looking forward to starting that because the Kalyāṇa Kalpataru program will connect directly to the Śrī Gauḍīya Gīti-guccha project...

The Gīti-guccha project

I'm excited to announce that we're including the complete Kalyāṇa Kalpataru in the upcoming Śrī Gauḍīya Gīti-guccha! We've finished preparing the third branch, leaving only the first and second to complete. Śrīvāsa is currently translating the first branch, Upalabdhi – a collection of 19 songs addressing various struggles faced by conditioned jīvas.

We've recently translated two introductions to the Bengali Śrī Gauḍīya Gīti-guccha by Paramgurudeva, Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, along with an article he references by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda titled "Gāner adhikārī ke? — Who is qualified to sing?" These writings, which we'll include at the beginning of the songbook, teach us how to integrate these songs into our daily lives and the right mood to approach them.

We're also considering adding quotes from our ācāryas on various kīrtana-related topics. If you know of any inspiring and instructive kīrtana quotes from our ācāryas, please share them – they might find their way into the upcoming Gīti-guccha!

There's so much more to say about the new songs and features of the songbook, but I'll save that for another time.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading! Hari haribol!