On A Silver Platter is a type of literature called “sangraha”, which is a collection of writings not necessarily related to each other. This book contains articles generally written with the idea of addressing an audience of people who already have a certain level of knowledge of the basic principles of our philosophy, but some of them were written with the idea of addressing another type of reader.
We are aware that long lists of names and numbers might annoy readers who are less eager to delve into some issues, but we have chosen to do so anyway because some information must be published for the benefit of researchers and scholars. I hope this choice meets your favor. Most of these articles were written by Manonatha Dasa, a direct disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The book On A Silver Platter was finished in July 2022. We thank Yamuna Devi Dasi for editing the text, Madhavendra Puri Dasa for the covers and Isvara Dasa for maintaining the Isvara.org website and our book store located on store.isvara.org.
Table of contents
Table of contents …………………………………………….5
Introduction ……………………………………………………9
What are the duties for a man who wants to be happy
in this world and in the next?……………………………….11
Sargal Singh is Dead! Poor Sargal Singh!!! ………..12
Gopala Guru Gosvami and Dhira Samira ……………15
Nara Narayana Rishi and the Birth of Urvasi ………19
Who is Srila Prabhupada? ……………………………….21
Some Points About the Maha Mantra Hare Krishna24
What is Mental Speculation? ……………………………27
On a Silver Platter………………………………………….30
Why ask Narasimha for help and not Krishna
directly?…………………………………………………………..33
The Seven Mothers of a Civilized Society ………….37
The Devotee Passing Away in a Coma……………….37
The Number 108 ……………………………………………39
The Campaka Flower ……………………………………..44
Padma Purana and Visnu Purana: Some Information
………………………………………………………………………50
The Upapuranas …………………………………………….53
Hare Krishna chant ………………………………………..53
Chenchu Laksmi, the Eternal Companion of Lord
Narasimhadeva………………………………………………….55
A study course for second initiation ………………….56
Who is a Brahmana. ………………………………………………..57
What is a Brahmana Vaisnava……………………………………58
Main qualities and activities of a brahmana. …………………61
More about the natural activity of a Brahmana. …………….61
Brahmanas must be protected. …………………………………..63
Importance of Arcana and offences to avoid. ………………..64
Some references……………………………………………………..64
Introduction to the Gayatri mantra. …………………………….64
Bhagavad-Gita: Chronology, five topics, catuh sloki and
conclusion. ………………………………………………………………..66
Five topics of the Bhagavad-gita………………………………..67
Catuh sloki. …………………………………………………………..67
Conclusion: Bhagavad-gita 18.66……………………………….67
Topic 6 – Srimad Bhagavatam: Structure, chronology and 10
topics of Srimad-Bhagavatam. ……………………………………….68
Topic 7 – Caitanya Caritamrta: Structure, Chronology,
biography of Lord Caitanya. ………………………………………….69
Biography of Lord Caitanya: …………………………………….69
Topic 8 – Sri Isopanisad: Vedas, knowledge and Personality
of Godhead. ……………………………………………………………….70
Introduction of the Sri Isopanisad: ……………………………..70
Sand and Stone ……………………………………………..71
Advaita Acarya y Srivasa Pandita……………………..72
Advaita Acarya: ……………………………………………………..73
Srivasa Pandita: ……………………………………………………..73
Reincarnation or metempsychosis? ……………………73
Reincarnation, UFO and aliens …………………………76
Gadadhara Pandita, the humble Radharani ………….78
How to know if you are making spiritual progress? 80
Divisions of the four Vedas ……………………………..82
The origin of fear …………………………………………..83
Proof of the existence of God …………………………..84
Don’t tell people to chant Hare Krishna ……………..88
Offenses to Be Avoided ………………………………….89
We’ll never die again!…………………………………….97
Calculation of time according to the Manvantaras..99
Duration of a Manvantara ………………………………………. 100
Sub-divisions ………………………………………………………. 100
Comparison to the Age of the Universe from Modern
Astronomy………………………………………………………………. 101
Manus of the Sveta Varaha Kalpa …………………………….101
Some information about the Manu ……………………………102
Meaning of the name Kundalata …………………….. 108
Krishna is not attracted to Laksmidevi …………….. 108
Who is the seer? And who is the seen? ……………. 110
Srila Prabhupada’s initiation lecture ……………….. 112
Reading works of the previous acaryas ……………. 122
How to choose a spiritual master, by Srila
Prabhupada ……………………………………………………. 127
Is it true that Ravana had 10 heads or is this just
something figurative? ………………………………………. 127
A friend for lunch ……………………………………….. 129
The flat earth theory and the multidimensionality of
creation …………………………………………………………. 130
The issue of evidence …………………………………… 133
The Mahabharata in the Vedas ………………………. 134
Veganism…………………………………………………… 135
The Aksauhini at Kuruksetra …………………………. 136
Meaning of a mantra and about arati……………….. 138
Transcendental Qualities of Krishna and of His
tattvas …………………………………………………………… 138
The Composition of Material Nature ………………. 143
Sri Advaita Acarya………………………………………. 145
