How To Study Srila Prabhupadas Books

Haribol,

So I am really want to "study" Srila Prabhupadas books instead of "read" them.

What advice and tips can you give to help me "study" these amazing books?

I generally just end up reading them, thinking "thats great", "this is wonderful", "oh that relates to me", "no i dont quite understand that" etc

So at ground level, can someone kindly provide some tips on how to get the best out of Srila Prabhupadas books?

Side point: I wake up at 5am, I chant most of my rounds around 10-14, i do 16 daily , then go to work , listen to classes, hear kirtans etc but then when I return home in the evening, after cooking prasadam and doing some house work etc I do not feel like picking up the scriptures.

Even if I feel like it, I do not feel mentally there.

I realise the importance of our scriptures and feel bad when I think how Srila Prabhupada spent hours translating these books getting no sleep etc and here I am so ungrateful.

So please, tell me a book to start with and teach me how to "study" it and I will

Please help

Hare Krishna!

Dear D,

If you are like me, who does not have either of the options suggested by dear mataji Rashmi Khaitan, perhaps because you live in a community where there are no devotees or temples, and there are no options for live online courses - most of which are recordings that you are already listening to (how wonderful to have access to them and I find enough joy every day just listening to lecture after lecture..). As much as I have looked I have not seen any interactive online classes where one is able to hold discussions based on principles of bhakti, especially those that are also offered in the country of my residence..

I understand how tough it can be to study after work and prasad (as prasad can really make us feel so ecstatic and filled with joy that our body and mind simply has no option but to relax) not that I have any reason to believe that Krishna would ever accept my offering (but I sure Hope so), and like me you may find more time on the weekend days Saturday and Sunday - when you can spend full days studying scriptures...

As always there must be a balance in your life - and so perhaps you may want to dedicate a particular day or two for your focus on Shastric studies. Sometimes "to get best out of" is to simply believe and focus on the service aspect. Remember that you are focusing on doing Krishnas will and so you must simply try to do your best to your current capacity. A person could be a great scholar of vedic literature and never understand it fully or "best" or better than any other devotee. At times I find that I get the "best" AFTER I have spent my morning chanting rounds or AFTER I have spend a day reading a chapter in SB.

I know that I will never fully and completely get the best out of all the Prabhupadas divine translations (purports). I know that I could read a single sloka 1000 times and never understand all of its depth. But I also know that having read a single sloka once enables me to see my surroundings through a spiritual lense- and at times I find that I am not even aware of all of its wonderful effects.

Please dear prabhuji do not give up! Remember that there will always be an online community here on iskcondesiretree to answer any of the questions or doubts that you may have.

And I think that you are mostly seeking association of other devotees, or a spiritual master to help you with these studies, and at times I also find it quite difficult to be without association - but I guess that is just how it supposed to be for me and partly by choice and partly by the depth of my personal spiritual development (realization). How could I, someone who knows so little be in association and be deserving of being near much more advanced devotees like so many here on this website? I know that the best I can do is just study as much as I can and serve the best I can and maybe one day I will be worthy of such wondrous (more direct and living) association.

I think that when the time comes, Krishna will assist you in your desire to focus more and more of your devotion on him.

like Maharaja Radhanath Swami mentioned in one of his lectures,

"Like a cup full of dirty water, if you keep filling it with clean water, eventually all the dirty water will vanish"

I hope that this helps.

All glories to all devotees! Haribol!

Replies

Ilya August 6, 2015 at 6:57am

Hare Krishna!

Dear D,

If you are like me, who does not have either of the options suggested by dear mataji Rashmi Khaitan, perhaps because you live in a community where there are no devotees or temples, and there are no options for live online courses - most of which are recordings that you are already listening to (how wonderful to have access to them and I find enough joy every day just listening to lecture after lecture..). As much as I have looked I have not seen any interactive online classes where one is able to hold discussions based on principles of bhakti, especially those that are also offered in the country of my residence..

I understand how tough it can be to study after work and prasad (as prasad can really make us feel so ecstatic and filled with joy that our body and mind simply has no option but to relax) not that I have any reason to believe that Krishna would ever accept my offering (but I sure Hope so), and like me you may find more time on the weekend days Saturday and Sunday - when you can spend full days studying scriptures...

As always there must be a balance in your life - and so perhaps you may want to dedicate a particular day or two for your focus on Shastric studies. Sometimes "to get best out of" is to simply believe and focus on the service aspect. Remember that you are focusing on doing Krishnas will and so you must simply try to do your best to your current capacity. A person could be a great scholar of vedic literature and never understand it fully or "best" or better than any other devotee. At times I find that I get the "best" AFTER I have spent my morning chanting rounds or AFTER I have spend a day reading a chapter in SB.

I know that I will never fully and completely get the best out of all the Prabhupadas divine translations (purports). I know that I could read a single sloka 1000 times and never understand all of its depth. But I also know that having read a single sloka once enables me to see my surroundings through a spiritual lense- and at times I find that I am not even aware of all of its wonderful effects.

Please dear prabhuji do not give up! Remember that there will always be an online community here on iskcondesiretree to answer any of the questions or doubts that you may have.

And I think that you are mostly seeking association of other devotees, or a spiritual master to help you with these studies, and at times I also find it quite difficult to be without association - but I guess that is just how it supposed to be for me and partly by choice and partly by the depth of my personal spiritual development (realization). How could I, someone who knows so little be in association and be deserving of being near much more advanced devotees like so many here on this website? I know that the best I can do is just study as much as I can and serve the best I can and maybe one day I will be worthy of such wondrous (more direct and living) association.

I think that when the time comes, Krishna will assist you in your desire to focus more and more of your devotion on him.

like Maharaja Radhanath Swami mentioned in one of his lectures,

"Like a cup full of dirty water, if you keep filling it with clean water, eventually all the dirty water will vanish"

I hope that this helps.

All glories to all devotees! Haribol!
E-Counselor

Radha Rasamayi DD August 5, 2015 at 5:23pm

Hare Krsna PRabhuji,

PAMHO.

Very nice thought, dandavats to you for taht.

The options in front of you are:

1) Group study - if you could find a like minded sadhaka, then it would be a good idea. If you study with him, both of you would push each other and end up reading everyday. Read one para at a time, then discuss what you learnt from that para. If there are doubts, try to answer them by reading the passage again or by reading next para. It would be a good idea to note it down so that you have covered all your queries.

2) Attend the Sunday feast lecture in your nearest temple. This will introduce you to like minded people. Who knows maybe you will find someone close enough to your house for you to do group study. Even otherwise, when you are reading and there are doubts, you could ask in the temple on weekends. Or you could ask in this forum. There would be someone who can reply.

3) Take up one of the courses offered - maybe Bhakti Shastri online. VIHE has this course, intensive study of Bhagawad Gita, Sri Isopanishad, Nectar of Instruction and Nectar of Devotion. They have regular exams also, so it would be a good idea. You will be forced to study.

I know only this much prabhuji. I hope I have been able to help a little.

Haribol,

Your servant,

Rashmi

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