Hare Krishna!!!!!!!!!1
Pranam sabhi bhakto ko... plz help me to understand that only Krishna is the supreme or there is any other source or way to God and plz who is GOD? who are we? why should we come ? what is our ultimate goal? and in last how should i achieve my goal ?
hare krishna
Replies
Hare Krsna,
I will try to answer these very meaningful and useful questions with some quotes from books by his divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
From the Srimad-Bhagavatam, first canto:
"In the revealed scriptures, the ultimate object of knowledge is Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead. The purpose of performing sacrifice is to please Him. Yoga is for realizing Him. All fruitive activities are ultimately rewarded by Him only. He is supreme knowledge, and all severe austerities are performed to know Him. Religion [dharma] is rendering
loving service unto Him. He is the supreme goal of life."
"Lord Visnu is worshiped by devotional service only, and if anyone has to continue prison life in the material world, he may ask for relative facilities for temporary relief from the different demigods like Siva, Brahma, Indra and Varuna. No demigod, however, can release the imprisoned living being from the conditioned life of material existence. This can be done only by Visnu. Therefore, the ultimate benefit may be derived from Visnu, the Personality of Godhead."
Who we are is described in the following quotes:
"The living entities, the jivas, however, are affected by or susceptible to being influenced by such modes of material nature-- that is the difference between the Lord and the living entities. The living entities are subjected by those qualities, although originally the living entities are qualitatively one with the Lord. In other words, the material modes of nature, being products of the energy of the Lord, are certainly connected with the Lord, but the connection is just like that between the master and the servants. The Supreme Lord is the controller of the material energy, whereas the living entities, who are entangled in the material world, are neither masters nor controllers. Rather, they
become subordinate to or controlled by such energy."
Why we should come: From the book "Quest for enlightenment":
"Because we wanted to imitate Him, Krsna has given us an opportunity: "All right, you want to imitate Me? You want to be an imitation king on the stage? So, feel like this. Play like this. Do like this. People will applaud - 'Oh what a very nice king'. "
So everyone in the material world is playing some part. "I want to become prime minister". "I want to be a very big business magnate." "I want to be a leader". "I want to be a philosopher". "I want to be a scientist." They are trying to play all these parts and Krsna is giving the opportunity - "All right".
What is our ultimate goal?: This is described in so many books. From the Srimad-Bhagavatam, first and second canto:
"The highest perfection of life is to get detached from the material attachment and proportionately
realize the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The Personality of Godhead recognizes a living being who is progressing in that line."
"Material prosperity and sense enjoyment and their advancement are all activities of ignorance in human society. Peace and friendship are impossible for a society detached from the association of
God and His devotees. It is imperative, therefore, that one sincerely seek the association of pure devotees and hear them patiently and submissively from any position of life."
How should i achieve my goal: From the book Bhagavad-gita:
"The Bhagavad-gita (9.27) advises in this connection: 'Whatever you do, whatever you eat and whatever you give, as well as whatever you perform in penance, offer to Me alone.' "
From the book Nectar of Devotion, the basic principles to be followed are:
(1) accepting shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master
(2) becoming initiated by the spiritual master and learning how to discharge devotional service from him.
(3) obeying the orders of the spiritual master with faith and devotion
(4) following in the footsteps of great acaryas under the direction of the spiritual master
(5) inquiring from the spiritual master how to advance in Krsna Consciousness
(6) being prepared to give up anything material for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (this means that when we are engaged in the devotional service of Krsna, we must be prepared to give up something which we may not like to give up and also we have to accept something which we may not like to accept)
(7) residing in a sacred pilgrimage like Dvaraka or Vrndavana
(8) accepting only what is necessary, or dealing with the material world only as far as necessary
(9) observing fast on Ekadasi
(10) worship sacred trees like the Banyan tree.
There are other instructions listed in the chapter "How to discharge devotional service" from the Nectar of Devotion.
The first three items mentioned above are considered the most important.
There is also plenty of other examples which can be given as part of answers to your questions.
If something is not clear enough, do not hesitate, let me know.