The Gaura Purnima issue of Gaudiya Touchstone is now online.
Welcome to the ninth edition of Gaudiya Touchstone commemorating Gaura Purnima, the advent of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
This issue begins with an article on the Srimad Bhagavatam by Bhaktivinoda Thakura entitled The Bhagavata, based upon a public lecture he gave in Dinajpur in 1869.
Sri Gaura Ki Vastu? (Who is Sri Gaura?) written by Saraswati Thakura for the Bengali magazine Sajjana Toshani in 1918 has been translated for the first time into English and explains the true position of Sri Chaitanya as opposed to the imaginary Mahaprabhu concocted by the Mayavadis.
Another Bengali work that has been translated for the first time into English is Sri Kusumanjali by Sridhara Maharaja, which glorifies the personality of his spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura.
Lord Sri Caitanya and His Teachings is an article from an early Back To Godhead magazine by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, which concisely explains the precepts of Mahaprabhu.
What is a Deity and what is a lifeless statue? This question and many more are answered in the article, Self-manifest Deities
In This Sankirtana Movement is the Lila of Mahaprabhu, the magnanimous position of the Lord and His devotees is explained as well as the importance of participating in the sankirtana movement.
Our cover story about Dhamesvara gives the background to the oldest Deity of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu which was originally worshipped by His consort Vishnupriya Devi and tells us why, at one point in history, the devotees had to hide the Deity.
Swami Giri explains in detail the five members of the Panca-Tattva in The Tattva of Panca-Tattva, and in our regular feature,Temples of Karnataka, Rasikananda takes us to the temple of Thondanur and tells us the history of the Deities there.
How can we perform our devotional service with the proper mentality? Dhira Lalita's article Seva, gives us some hints how to improve our service to Guru and Krishna.
We also have three very interesting science articles beginning with Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics by Swami Vishnu, followed by Bosun or bust? Higgs and His Godless Particle by Professor Rajaram and Is There a God or Is There Nothingness? by Dr. Robert Lanza.
We also have our sagacious Words of Wisdom section as well as Culinary Magic where Gaura Gopala teaches us how to make a delicious quiche.
That's it for Issue 9. Happy reading and have a happy and auspicious Gaura Purnima festival!
OM TAT SAT
Swami Narasingha
