A Journey of Surrender

Its my humble request to present to you realisations and practical thoughts from the depth of my heart for the pleasure of the Guru parampara. All the ācāryas, great examplerary teachers, commented in one way or the other on the words of previous ācāryas. Its a tradition to hear the words and repeat them in accordance to sadhu, guru and shastra. Not all of the ācāryas wrote, but still, they used the spiritual lineage to propagate the message of Godhead, just as one would use the vast flow of a river to purify oneself. The source of this vast river of transcendental knowledge is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Śrī Radha-Kṛṣṇa, who appeared as Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu in Māyāpur, Navadvip, West Bengal, India. Śrī Chaitanya wrote only eight verses as a testament to the perfection of chanting the Holy Names of Kṛṣṇa. This instructive poem which was compiled in Sanskrit by Śrī Chaitanya is called Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam, eight prayers to instruct about the glorious name of Govinda, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In every temple of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness this prayer is recited, either in the morning, or sometimes in the evening, or sometimes at the auspicious appearance day of Śrī Chaitanya. The wonderful thing is that Śrī Chaitanya appeared to taste love of Godhead, exemplifying the ecstatic life of a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Its a phenomenal theology; God appearing as His devotee, to taste His mellow in relationship with Him. The missionary activities are also incapsulated in the eight instructive prayers of Lord Chaitanya, who inaugarated the nāma-saṅkīrtanam movement, the complete or congregational chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.