Query

Hare Ram!!I want know one thing. As per Gita, one should not ponder about useless things like earning money. One should stay in Krishna consciousness. If we don't think about money then won't have money. How can we survive without money.?

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  • What i knew from Isckon is that one should work & earn to survive in this material world . You have to earn money . But the main thing is always think it's krsna's property , not ours. When we only think about our sense gratification , then it's useless when comes to earn money . But if we give to krsna , then it's good to earn money . Money is important , without laxmi you cannot do things that require money. But , only fulfilling our desire with money i'ts againt our vedic scriptures. So the main is to earn , save & give to our supreme father who give us so many things . Laxmi is very chanchal , she cannot stay in one place. She  stay where her husband lord vishnu stay ,. The proper way to use money is to earn & give to krsna according to your capacity . Jai Srila Prabhupada , Hare Krsna.

  • SB 7.13.1Śrī Nārada Muni said: A person able to cultivate spiritual knowledge should renounce all material connections, and merely keeping the body inhabitable, he should travel from one place to another, passing only one night in each village. In this way, without dependence in regard to the needs of the body, the sannyāsī should travel all over the world.

    SB 7.13.2A person in the renounced order of life may try to avoid even a dress to cover himself. If he wears anything at all, it should be only a loincloth, and when there is no necessity, a sannyāsī should not even accept a daṇḍa. A sannyāsī should avoid carrying anything but a daṇḍa and kamaṇḍalu.
    SB 7.13.3The sannyāsī, completely satisfied in the self, should live on alms begged from door to door. Not being dependent on any person or any place, he should always be a friendly well-wisher to all living beings and be a peaceful, unalloyed devotee of Nārāyaṇa. In this way he should move from one place to another.
    SB 7.13.4The sannyāsī should always try to see the Supreme pervading everything and see everything, including this universe, resting on the Supreme.
    SB 7.13.5During unconsciousness and consciousness, and between the two, he should try to understand the self and be fully situated in the self. In this way, he should realize that the conditional and liberated stages of life are only illusory and not actually factual. With such a higher understanding, he should see only the Absolute Truth pervading everything.
    SB 7.13.6Since the material body is sure to be vanquished and the duration of one’s life is not fixed, neither death nor life is to be praised. Rather, one should observe the eternal time factor, in which the living entity manifests himself and disappears.
    SB 7.13.7Literature that is a useless waste of time — in other words, literature without spiritual benefit — should be rejected. One should not become a professional teacher as a means of earning one’s livelihood, nor should one indulge in arguments and counterarguments. Nor should one take shelter of any cause or faction.
    SB 7.13.8A sannyāsī must not present allurements of material benefits to gather many disciples, nor should he unnecessarily read many books or give discourses as a means of livelihood. He must never attempt to increase material opulences unnecessarily.
    SB 7.13.9A peaceful, equipoised person who is factually advanced in spiritual consciousness does not need to accept the symbols of a sannyāsī, such as the tridaṇḍa and kamaṇḍalu. According to necessity, he may sometimes accept those symbols and sometimes reject them.
    SB 7.13.10Although a saintly person may not expose himself to the vision of human society, by his behavior his purpose is disclosed. To human society he should present himself like a restless child, and although he is the greatest thoughtful orator, he should present himself like a dumb man.
    SB 7.13.11As a historical example of this, learned sages recite the story of an ancient discussion between Prahlāda Mahārāja and a great saintly person who was feeding himself like a python.
    SB 7.13.12-13Prahlāda Mahārāja, the most dear servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, once went out touring the universe with some of his confidential associates just to study the nature of saintly persons. Thus he arrived at the bank of the Kāverī, where there was a mountain known as Sahya. There he found a great saintly person who was lying on the ground, covered with dirt and dust, but who was deeply spiritually advanced.
    SB 7.13.14Neither by that saintly person’s activities, by his bodily features, by his words nor by the symptoms of his varṇāśrama status could people understand whether he was the same person they had known.
    SB 7.13.15The advanced devotee Prahlāda Mahārāja duly worshiped and offered obeisances to the saintly person who had adopted a python’s means of livelihood. After thus worshiping the saintly person and touching his own head to the saint’s lotus feet, Prahlāda Mahārāja, in order to understand him, inquired very submissively as follows.
    SB 7.13.16-17Seeing the saintly person to be quite fat, Prahlāda Mahārāja said: My dear sir, you undergo no endeavor to earn your livelihood, but you have a stout body, exactly like that of a materialistic enjoyer. I know that if one is very rich and has nothing to do, he becomes extremely fat by eating and sleeping and performing no work.
    SB 7.13.18O brāhmaṇa, fully in knowledge of transcendence, you have nothing to do, and therefore you are lying down. It is also understood that you have no money for sense enjoyment. How then has your body become so fat? Under the circumstances, if you do not consider my question impudent, kindly explain how this has happened.
    SB 7.13.19Your Honor appears learned, expert and intelligent in every way. You can speak very well, saying things that are pleasing to the heart. You see that people in general are engaged in fruitive activities, yet you are lying here inactive.
    SB 7.13.20Nārada Muni continued: When the saintly person was thus questioned by Prahlāda Mahārāja, the King of the Daityas, he was captivated by this shower of nectarean words, and he replied to the inquisitiveness of Prahlāda Mahārāja with a smiling face.
    SB 7.13.21The saintly brāhmaṇa said: O best of the asuras, Prahlāda Mahārāja, who are recognized by advanced and civilized men, you are aware of the different stages of life because of your inherent transcendental eyes, with which you can see a man’s character and thus know clearly the results of acceptance and rejection of things as they are.
    SB 7.13.22Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is full of all opulences, is predominant within the core of your heart because of your being a pure devotee. He always drives away all the darkness of ignorance, as the sun drives away the darkness of the universe.
    SB 7.13.23My dear King, although you know everything, you have posed some questions, which I shall try to answer according to what I have learned by hearing from authorities. I cannot remain silent in this regard, for a personality like you is just fit to be spoken to by one who desires self-purification.
    SB 7.13.24Because of insatiable material desires, I was being carried away by the waves of material nature’s laws, and thus I was engaging in different activities, struggling for existence in various forms of life.
    SB 7.13.25In the course of the evolutionary process, which is caused by fruitive activities due to undesirable material sense gratification, I have received this human form of life, which can lead to the heavenly planets, to liberation, to the lower species, or to rebirth among human beings.
    SB 7.13.26In this human form of life, men and women unite for the sensual pleasure of sex, but by actual experience we have observed that none of them are happy. Therefore, seeing the contrary results, I have stopped taking part in materialistic activities.
    SB 7.13.27The actual form of life for the living entities is one of spiritual happiness, which is real happiness. This happiness can be achieved only when one stops all materialistic activities. Material sense enjoyment is simply an imagination. Therefore, considering this subject matter, I have ceased from all material activities and am lying down here.
    SB 7.13.28In this way the conditioned soul living within the body forgets his self-interest because he identifies himself with the body. Because the body is material, his natural tendency is to be attracted by the varieties of the material world. Thus the living entity suffers the miseries of material existence.
    SB 7.13.29Just as a deer, because of ignorance, cannot see the water within a well covered by grass, but runs after water elsewhere, the living entity covered by the material body does not see the happiness within himself, but runs after happiness in the material world.
    SB 7.13.30The living entity tries to achieve happiness and rid himself of the causes of distress, but because the various bodies of the living entities are under the full control of material nature, all his plans in different bodies, one after another, are ultimately baffled.
    SB 7.13.31Materialistic activities are always mixed with three kinds of miserable conditions — adhyātmika, adhidaivika and adhibautika. Therefore, even if one achieves some success by performing such activities, what is the benefit of this success? One is still subjected to birth, death, old age, disease and the reactions of his fruitive activities.
    SB 7.13.32The brāhmaṇa continued: I am actually seeing how a rich man, who is a victim of his senses, is very greedy to accumulate wealth, and therefore suffers from insomnia due to fear from all sides, despite his wealth and opulence.
    SB 7.13.33Those who are considered materially powerful and rich are always full of anxieties because of governmental laws, thieves and rogues, enemies, family members, animals, birds, persons seeking charity, the inevitable time factor and even their own selves. Thus they are invariably afraid.
    SB 7.13.34Those in human society who are intelligent should give up the original cause of lamentation, illusion, fear, anger, attachment, poverty and unnecessary labor. The original cause of all of these is the desire for unnecessary prestige and money.
    SB 7.13.35The bee and the python are two excellent spiritual masters who give us exemplary instructions regarding how to be satisfied by collecting only a little and how to stay in one place and not move.
    SB 7.13.36From the bumblebee I have learned to be unattached to accumulating money, for although money is as good as honey, anyone can kill its owner and take it away.
    SB 7.13.37I do not endeavor to get anything, but am satisfied with whatever is achieved in its own way. If I do not get anything, I am patient and unagitated like a python and lie down in this way for many days.
    SB 7.13.38Sometimes I eat a very small quantity and sometimes a great quantity. Sometimes the food is very palatable, and sometimes it is stale. Sometimes prasāda is offered with great respect, and sometimes food is given neglectfully. Sometimes I eat during the day and sometimes at night. Thus I eat what is easily available.
    SB 7.13.39To cover my body I use whatever is available, whether it be linen, silk, cotton, bark or deerskin, according to my destiny, and I am fully satisfied and unagitated.
    SB 7.13.40Sometimes I lie on the surface of the earth, sometimes on leaves, grass or stone, sometimes on a pile of ashes, or sometimes, by the will of others, in a palace on a first-class bed with pillows.
    SB 7.13.41O my lord, sometimes I bathe myself very nicely, smear sandalwood pulp all over my body, put on a flower garland, and dress in fine garments and ornaments. Then I travel like a king on the back of an elephant or on a chariot or horse. Sometimes, however, I travel naked, like a person haunted by a ghost.
    SB 7.13.42Different people are of different mentalities. Therefore it is not my business either to praise them or to blaspheme them. I only desire their welfare, hoping that they will agree to become one with the Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.
    SB 7.13.43The mental concoction of discrimination between good and bad should be accepted as one unit and then invested in the mind, which should then be invested in the false ego. The false ego should be invested in the total material energy. This is the process of fighting false discrimination.
    SB 7.13.44A learned, thoughtful person must realize that material existence is illusion. This is possible only by self-realization. A self-realized person, who has actually seen the truth, should retire from all material activities, being situated in self-realization.
    SB 7.13.45Prahlāda Mahārāja, you are certainly a self-realized soul and a devotee of the Supreme Lord. You do not care for public opinion or so-called scriptures. For this reason I have described to you without hesitation the history of my self-realization.
    SB 7.13.46Nārada Muni continued: After Prahlāda Mahārāja, the King of the demons, heard these instructions from the saint, he understood the occupational duties of a perfect person [paramahaṁsa]. Thus he duly worshiped the saint, took his permission and then left for his own home.
    SB 7.13.1
    SB 7.13.1
    • SB 11.8.35The Supreme Personality of Godhead is absolutely the most dear one for all living beings because He is everyone’s well-wisher and Lord. He is the Supreme Soul situated in everyone’s heart. Therefore I will now pay the price of complete surrender, and thus purchasing the Lord I will enjoy with Him just like Lakṣmīdevī.

      SB 11.8.36Men provide sense gratification for women, but all these men, and even the demigods in heaven, have a beginning and an end. They are all temporary creations who will be dragged away by time. Therefore how much actual pleasure or happiness could any of them ever give to their wives?
      SB 11.8.37Although I most stubbornly hoped to enjoy the material world, somehow or other detachment has arisen in my heart, and it is making me very happy. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, must be pleased with me. Without even knowing it, I must have performed some activity satisfying to Him.
      SB 11.8.38A person who has developed detachment can give up the bondage of material society, friendship and love, and a person who undergoes great suffering gradually becomes, out of hopelessness, detached and indifferent to the material world. Thus, due to my great suffering, such detachment awoke in my heart; yet how could I have undergone such merciful suffering if I were actually unfortunate? Therefore, I am in fact fortunate and have received the mercy of the Lord. He must somehow or other be pleased with me.
      SB 11.8.39With devotion I accept the great benefit that the Lord has bestowed upon me. Having given up my sinful desires for ordinary sense gratification, I now take shelter of Him, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
      SB 11.8.40I am now completely satisfied, and I have full faith in the Lord’s mercy. Therefore I will maintain myself with whatever comes of its own accord. I shall enjoy life with only the Lord, because He is the real source of love and happiness.
      SB 11.8.35
      The real friend of all conditioned souls is the Supreme Lord, and only He can award the highest perfection in life. By following the example of Lakṣm…
      • Proces in  surrendering to Lord is mostly rejected, because it brings death to comfort life and sense gratification which humans do not want to leave. Even after promising them all the benefits which can come from surrendering, they do not  leave temporary comfort life.

        Instead, they desire to hear how they can spiritually progress easily, without living sense gratification and economic progress, which consider to be death for the soul. Well, without association of pure devotee, without his mercy, where one can wake deep love for Lord, such progress will not be achieved on that way no matter of anything.

  • E-Counselor

    Hare Krsna PRabhuji,

    PAMHO.

    Where it is mentioned in GIta that one should not ponder over useless things like earning money? Pls give reference. I cannot find anywhere.

    Where it is written that earning money is evil? Its not like that prabhuji. Gita it is mentioned that one should not have hankering of any sort. Nowhere Krsna has mentioned that do not do your karma. In fact, he has stressed so much on doing your duty - there are so many shlokas on the importance of doing your duty.

    What needs to change is merely the consciousness with which one does one's duty. The same thing that we were doing earlier, we continue to do (like Arjuna, he continued to be a grihasta, a kshatriya), but as a service to Krsna, for the satisfaction of Krsna, not for our satisfaction. We can do that by offering the fruits of our actions to Krsna. 

    We survive by the mercy of Krsna, not by thinking of money. That does not at all mean that now that we are chanting, there is no need to do any prescribed duty, the world will come and foot our bills. That also wont happen. We have to continue to do our work, keeping Krsna in the centre. How to do this - keep your sadhana intact and keep doing your job/ studies, as the case may be.

    Haribol,

    Your servant,

    Radha Rasamayi DD

  • hi friend Its a hardcore fact that the more Krishna conscious you become the more wealth will come to you and the more you think about wealth only hard struggle and little wealth will come to you. your hair turning premature grey and other health related issues will be additional problems.

    Take the e.x. of Srila Prabhupada. He reached USA having only 40 dollars and went on to built 108 temples across globe. Take a look at iskcon devotees. they are in kc and their wealth just keeps doubling and tripling. similarly with another popular Vaishnav like Kripaluji maharaj. he too has unprecedented wealth. one of his temples is made up of Italian marbles!! so just do your duty and spend more and more time in kc!! money will keep running after you rather than viceversa!!

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